October 10, 2008	Friday	Shawwal 10, 1429

KARACHI, Oct 9: Only small plots of land can be allotted to individual applicants under the Gothabad Act of 1987, a division bench of the Sindh High Court held on Thursday.

A petitioner, Mohammad Hussain Brohi, had claimed on behalf of the Goth Welfare Association that 70 acres of land were given to him in grant for a goth in 1993. The grant was, however, arbitrarily cancelled without assigning any reason or affording him an opportunity to justify his grant.

The board of revenue counsel, M. Ahmed Pirzada, however, argued that the grant was made in gross violation of the law and the petitioner was not entitled to any relief. Not more than two ‘ghuntas’ of land could be given in grant under the Gothabad Act, which was in force in 1993. The board of revenue detected the illegality and cancelled the grant promptly, the counsel said.

A division bench comprising Justices Munib Ahmed Khan and Khwaja Naveed Ahmed dismissed the petition.

CCOB summoned

The bench summoned chief controller of buildings Manzoor Qadir on Oct 15 to explain the high-rise policy in the Clifton area.

The court had ordered the KBCA in a building code violation case by M/s Greenbelt Residency to consider regularizing the violations. The KBCA submitted that against an approved design for ground floor + basement + six storeys, the builder-developer has constructed a 10-storeyed building in addition to the ground floor and basement. The top (sixth) floor, which was meant for recreation, had been fully covered and the new top (10th) floor also consisted of apartments. The violations, the KBCA said, could not be regularized under the law.

Advocates Abdul Qayyum Abbasi and Khalid Jawaid Khan submitted on behalf of a petitioner purchaser of flats and shops in the complex and its builder-developer, respectively, that up to 20-storeyed buildings had been sanctioned in the area by the KBCA and it was discriminating against Greenbelt Residency, situated adjacent to China Town in Clifton. They said the KBCA had not complied with the court order to consider regularization in the light of a 1999 Supreme Court judgment and a contempt notice be issued to its chief controller.

KBCA counsel Shahid Jamil Khan stated that the matter was re-examined as directed by the court but there was no provision in the law and rules to regularize the violations committed by the Greenbelt builder-developer. The authority had to demolish some of the offending parts of the structure as it would have been impossible after the occupation of the premises.

Summoning the CCOB on Oct 15, the bench restrained the builder-developer from creating third party interest in the meantime.

Govt appeal admitted

The bench admitted an intra-court appeal moved by the provincial government against a single judge’s order for payment of compensation amounting to Rs3.5 million to an SHC employee for illegal arrest and confinement.

Riaz Ahmed, an SHC execution branch clerk, was taken into custody by Baghdadi police for suspicion of his involvement in an explosion at the Prince Cinema in 2001.

He identified himself to the police and produced documents to prove his innocence but he was not only not released but transferred to another (Garden) police station. He was later released on bail by a judge and an inquiry conducted by the then inspector-general of police established his innocence and he was discharged from the case.

Riaz Ahmed filed a suit for damages for malicious arrest and confinement, seeking Rs7 million as compensation. The claim was decreed to the extent of Rs3.5 million, which the government and the IGP and eight other police officers were liable to pay jointly and severally.

Assistant Advocate-General Adnan Karim Memon filed an appeal on behalf of all the defendants. Appearing for respondent Riaz Ahmed, Advocate Abid S. Zuberi argued that the police officers were sued in their individual capacities and a government law officer could not file and prosecute an appeal on their behalf.

The bench decided to admit the appeal insofar as it related to the provincial government and the IGP. The names of the remaining eight police officers were struck off, leaving them free to engage their own counsel.