January 25, 2008	Friday	Muharram 15, 1429

KARACHI, Jan 24: The Sindh High Court prohibited on Thursday further construction on a 4,000-square-yard plot straddling Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Gulshan-i-Iqbal and ordered the builder not to create third party interest in the commercial-cum-residential structure already raised.

Seventy per cent of the plot (number 309, Block 10-A, Gulistan-i-Jauhar) falls within the remit of the Karachi Building Control Authority and 30 per cent within that of the Faisal Cantonment Board for the purpose of approval of building plans and according to the KBCA, the builder-developer has proceeded with the construction work under the cover of a stay order obtained by him against the board and behind the back of the KBCA.

Gross violations came to light in the course of proceedings on a petition moved by two residents living close to the project, named Moon Garden. The petitioners alleged that a 10-storeyed commercial-cum-residential complex had been raised illegally against a sanctioned plan for a ground-plus-four-floor structure and that the KBCA was a silent spectator to the contravention of the building code.

Justices Munib Ahmed Khan and Pir Syed Ali Shah, who constitute the division bench seized of the petition, asked the KBCA counsel, who happened to be present in another case, about the alleged violations and why the authority had taken no action. The counsel, Advocate Shahid Jamil Khan, submitted that there was substance in the allegation of gross violations but the averments made against the KBCA were not true.

The KBCA, the counsel said, issued a notice to the builder-developer and sealed the under-construction premises. The seal was broken and the KBCA lodged a complaint with the police. The Aziz Bhatti police station in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, however, refused to register an FIR and the authority was rendered helpless. The builder, meanwhile, moved separate petitions against the KBCA and the Faisal Cantonment Board and obtained a restraint order against the board in the latter. The construction work continued under the cover of the court restraint order.

The bench directed the office to tag all three petitions together for consolidated hearing on February 6. Meanwhile, the builder would halt all construction work and would not create third party interest in the project.

DIG summoned

The bench also summoned the deputy inspector-general (operations) to appear in a person on February 6 in a petition alleging police complicity in the construction of an unauthorized structure near Merewhether Tower. A non-governmental organization submitted through Advocate Abdul Jabbar Korai that the car parking lot was provided for in the basement of a building raised on plot number GK-7/100, MW Tower, Saddar. The builder of the complex known as Jilani Centre later converted the parking lot into godowns in violation of the sanctioned plan and the building and town planning regulations.

The high court ordered demolition of godowns and restoration of the parking lot but the builder ignored the court order in complicity with police. The police also refused to help the KBCA demolish the unauthorized structure in violation of the court order. The court asked the town police officer to appear on Thursday but he failed to turn up. The bench summoned the DIG to explain why the court order for police assistance in demolition was not complied with and why the TPO failed to answer its summons.

Kidney Hill park

The bench heard extensive arguments on the Kidney Park Hill project near Karsaz and decided to continue the hearing on Friday. Appearing for Shehri and certain residents of the area, Advocate Rizwana Ismail argued that an amenity plot could not be put to any other use, particularly commercial.

Appearing for the Overseas Co-Operative Housing Society, the original petitioner that challenged the park project and claimed all 62 acres comprised in the project, said there was an agreement between the main parties to the proceedings, that is, the petitioner society and the federal, provincial and city governments. The compromise was recorded by the Supreme Court and the case disposed of. Shehri or any other individual or organization had no locus standi in the matter. Under the agreement, 20 acres each were given to the city district government for development of a park and 20 acres to the petitioner society for its housing project. The rest of the land is to be utilized for construction of roads, a hospital, a mosque, a police station, a water reservoir and other infrastructure.

City district government counsel Manzoor Ahmed said the compromise before the Supreme Court was the only way out to end the long-drawn legal controversy. Seven of the 62 acres of land have already been encroached upon. It would be in the fitness of things if work was allowed to commence on a 20-acre park at the earliest.

Advocate Rizwana Ismail said that Sheri had been fighting for civic rights. The established law is that an amenity plot cannot be converted into residential or commercial premises. Only one acre had been given to the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board while its existing reservoir was spread over 10 acres. The reservoir supplied water to 25 union councils.