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| November 29, 2007 | Thursday | Ziqa’ad 18, 1428 |
KARACHI: KBCA man fined for ignoring illegal construction
KARACHI, Nov 28: The Sindh High Court imposed a fine of Rs10,000 on a deputy controller of buildings on Wednesday for ignoring unlawful construction of a building. A non-governmental organization, Struggle Trust, moved a petition complaining that an unauthorised ground-plus-eight-floor structure had been raised on plot 85, Garden West. The court issued notices to the Karachi Building Control Authority and the area deputy controller of buildings, Abdul Hamid Zardari, who filed a counter-affidavit in an attempt to cover up the violation of building rules by the owner-builder.
KBCA counsel Shahid Jamil Khan later submitted that a building plan providing for the construction of seven stories in addition to the ground floor was sanctioned for the plot. However, the builder constructed an additional floor and a penthouse and tried to convert the car park into a shopping arcade. The unlawfully built shops were demolished by the KBCA and the additional floor and penthouse were regularised in 2006 in accordance with the prescribed procedure and on payment of the requisite fee. The petitioner no longer had a valid and subsisting cause of action and the petition should be dismissed as frivolous.
A division bench comprising Justices Munib Ahmed Khan and Rana M. Shamim observed that a violation had occurred at the time of filing of the petition. The then deputy controller of buildings, Abdul Hamid Zardari, not only ignored the violation but also facilitated it. A regularisation application was filed and approved subsequently. The DCB could not be absolved of his responsibility.
Dismissing the petition, the bench fined DCB Zardari Rs10,000 to be recovered from him by the SHC registrar within 15 days.
The bench disposed of as not pressed a petition in respect of the alleged disappearance of Mohammad Ibrahim alias Ashiq Ali Khoso.
Zaibunnisa, Ibrahim’s mother, filed a petition alleging that he was picked up by the law-enforcement agencies early in 2006. The federal interior ministry, the provincial home department, the police and other agencies denied having ordered or made the arrest. They expressed their ignorance about the whereabouts of Ibrahim. When the petition came up for hearing on Wednesday, the petitioner’s counsel informed the bench that the petitioner was no longer interested in pursuing the matter.
Deputy Attorney-General Rizwan A. Siddiqui said the petitioner had wasted the court’s time and leveled baseless allegations against the law-enforcement agencies. She should be directed to pay costs for abusing the process of law.
The bench restrained the customs department from encashing a cheque submitted by an importer for duty under the impugned assessment procedure prescribed by the Finance Act of 2005. The petitioner’s counsel, Minhaj Farooqui, contended that many provisions of the Finance Act that sought to amend the Customs Act were either meaningless or superfluous or in conflict with the existing provisions.
Issuing a notice to the respondent department, the bench stayed the recovery of the assessed amount till the next date of hearing.
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