KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday directed the federal law officer to submit the original master plan of the Pakistan Employees Cooperative Housing Society (PECHS), where a portion of the storm-water drain had been encroached upon by constructing a market in Block-6.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Mushir Alam, directed the deputy attorney general to appear along with the master plan on the next date.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) seeking the removal of illegally built shops from the drain, at the SC’s Karachi registry.

The KMC had approached the apex court in 2015 against alleged illegal construction on the drain passing through Block 6 of PECHS.

At the outset, the judges were irked when the officers of the director of the master plan department submitted a layout plan of the housing society instead of the master plant as sought by the court on the last date.

The judges observed that the purpose of calling original master plan was to see under what law the land of the drain had been allotted.

A deputy attorney general informed that the land belonged to the federal government, which was authorised to allot the same.

However, the judges asked as to whether or not the construction of the market over the storm-water drain had disrupted the smooth flow of sewage and directed the officers concerned to submit the original master plan on the next date of hearing.

The apex court cautioned that in case the officers failed to submit the master plan on the next date such an act on their part would be considered contempt of the court’s order.

In the petition, the KMC submitted that as many as 89 shops had illegally been built over the drain’s land and sold in violation of the building rules and regulations. The unauthorised constructions were causing hurdles in cleaning of the drain, which could expose the residents to difficulties, the metropolitan corporation had apprehended.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2018