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LAHORE, Aug 7: A division bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered demolition of another skyscraper built illegally in the provincial metropolis as its owner submitted that he could not pay the penalty to condone the illegality.
The bench, comprising Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday and Justice Falak Sher, directed the Lahore Development Authority to seal the entire building, 83-Garden Block, New Garden Town, forthwith after which steps would be taken to demolish it.
The court observed that the owner had been allowed construction of two basements and a lower ground floor by the competent authority, but the builder added a ground floor and eight floors besides extending the ninth floor, meaning thereby that the entire structure raised above the lower ground floor had been raised illegally and without any permission.
The court also noted that the developer had left less than the mandatory open space on one side of the structure while the 30-foot open space on the front side was three feet above the ground level. The result, the court said, would be that the ramp which was to be provided for vehicles’ entry to the building would cover probably half, if not the whole, of the service road.
The apex court said raising of this area was in violation of the plan submitted by the owner in which this entire space of 30 feet had been shown to be at the ground level, observing that this appeared to have been raised for giving the requisite height to the basements underneath which was another gross illegality.
“Since the entire structure has been raised in violation of laws, it has to be pulled down because one option being put by us to the owner for payment of penalty for condoning the said illegality is not acceptable to him,” read the order of the court, which directed the LDA to seal the premises while making arrangements for its demolition.
During an earlier hearing in the same case, the court had ordered demolition of the eight-story Masood Hospital extension.
BIG CITY: The SC bench gave three months to the owner of the Big City, a plaza in Gulberg, to remove the 11th floor he had built illegally after he vowed to do the task on his own.
However, it said, stability of the structure as well as any other violation of law committed by the owner would be examined after the removal of the illegally-built floor.
COMMERCIAL PLAZA: The bench directed the district revenue officer to measure the site of the Commercial Plaza located at the junction of Beadon Road and Cooper Road and belonging to Muhammad Saleem Yasin.
The court observed that the ownership of the building was not clear as title of the land was in the name of more than one person, while 892sqft area of the central government land had also reportedly been encroached upon by the owner and included in the building.
The revenue officer informed the court that ‘khasra’ No 7323 measuring 14 marlas (now underneath the building) was a street.
The court directed the revenue officer to personally supervise measuring of the site and carry out the demarcation thereof and submit his report to this court.
The court adjourned hearing of cases against the Rabi Centre (located in N Block of Gulberg-II) and the China Centre (situated at 19, Ferozepur Road) when the counsel for the two builders submitted that his clerk had just died of heart attack.
The complaint of the commission, appointed by the SC for surveying the high-rises in Lahore and preparing report for the court regarding the illegalities committed during their construction, against Aziz Bhatti Town Nazim Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf will also be taken up in the third week of September.
The commission had complained that despite repeated requests to the nazim, no list of under-construction buildings in his area had been supplied to it. —Amjad Mahmood
