KARACHI: Tankers movement on service lane prohibited
By Shujaat Ali Khan
KARACHI, Nov 15: The Sindh High Court prohibited the plying of water tankers on a service lane of Catholic Colony, Muslimabad, on Wednesday and asked its nazir to inspect the site and submit his report on the condition of roads and houses in the area.
The order was passed by a division bench comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Sajjad Ali Shah in a petition moved by Ruth Sami Ahmad, wife of Advocate Syed Sami Ahmad, through Advocate Masood Baig Mirza.
The petitioner submitted that she had been residing in bungalow 579/J.M.3, Pir Elahi Bux Road, Catholic Colony 2, Muslimabad, with her family for 37 years. A 10-foot wide service lane known as Joseph D’Abro Road emanates from her residence.
There is an old hydrant at the Muslimabad end of the 60-foot wide Pir Elahi Bux Road, built before 1947 when there were no houses along the road and a few tankers were sufficient to meet the requirement.
The tankers were allowed to enter from the Jail Road and leave through a small roundabout leading to the Jail Road. The present position, the petitioner said, was that hundreds of water tankers plied on the Pir Elahi Bux Road and its service lanes round-the-clock. After the closure of the Hasan Square hydrant, the entire load had been shifted to the Muslimabad hydrant.
Besides residential bungalows, a girls school named Christ the King Girls School, a boys school known as Little Folks School, a shelter for the old and sick known as ‘Peace Heaven’ were situated on the main road and its service lane.
Because of the nuisance created by the tankers and drivers and helpers, all had to close their main entrances and front gates. ‘No parking’ signs, barriers and even boundary walls were removed or broken by the tankers. The traffic hazards, environmental and noise pollution and invasion of privacy had made the locality uninhabitable.
The petitioner held the municipal and traffic authorities responsible for violation of her fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles 4, 9 and 14 of the constitution.
She requested the court to order shifting of the Muslimabad hydrant and directing the authorities to divert the tankers to the original route. The bench issued notices to the city district government, the Jamshed Town nazim and the traffic authorities for Nov 21.
Meanwhile, Joseph D’Abro Road would remain closed for the tankers and the SHC nazir ould conduct a survey of the route.
PLEA DISMISSED: Justice Khilji Arif Hussain of the Sindh High Court dismissed on Wednesday an application moved by a co-operative housing society against resumption of the land leased out to it at Deh Manghopir, Gadap Town.
The Sultanabad Co-operative Housing Society was granted 166.20 acres on a 99-year lease in 1980 for Rs8 million on payment of half the lease money. It could not pay the remaining half and instituted a suit against the revenue authorities.
According to the society, it paid the balance in 2003 under a court order in the pending suit. Yet its lease was cancelled in 1999 in complete disregard of the plight of its members who were anxiously waiting to construct houses on the plots allotted to them.
The board of revenue submitted through Additional Advocate-General M. Ahmed Pirzada that the remaining half of the lease money was not paid to it. In violation of the terms and conditions, the society sold 109.20 acres of the allotted land to M/s Mayari Builders (Pvt) Limited on a huge profit. It manipulated fake endorsement of a former chief minister, following which a criminal case was lodged against it. Despite its ‘wrongdoing’, the society managed to get another 175 acres allotted to it.
