KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued directive for immediate closure of a restaurant at Seaview as the building was not in a sound condition.

The single-judge SHC bench headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar also asked the plaintiff firm, which is running the Village Restaurant, and the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) officials to sit together to settle the matter within 10 days after the lawyer for the plaintiff said that they were willing to surrender the possession of the restaurant subject to the adjustment of liabilities with the DHA.

M.S. Food Consults Private Limited through it lawyer filed a suit against the defendants in the SHC and on the last date of hearing, the bench directed a bailiff to inspect the building and file report.

The bailiff submitted the compliance report on Wednesday and said that the inspection was carried out in the presence of representatives of the plaintiff, DHA deputy director legal Ashfaq Ahmed and its expert engineer Shaukat Alvi.

The report said that during an inspection of the entire building cracks were found in the roof and pillars of the restaurant.

The lawyer for the plaintiff, Mohammad Arif, submitted that a copy of the report had not been provided to him, but he admitted that the condition of the restaurant’s building was not sound, adding that this was the reason that they were not interested in running the restaurant.

The counsel also argued that the plaintiff side was willing to surrender the possession of the restaurant subject to adjustment of its liabilities with the DHA till June 30.

The deputy director legal was present during the proceedings and he agreed that if the chief executive officer of the plaintiff firm approached the department concerned of the DHA, they would sit together and calculate the dues and liabilities in accordance with the terms and conditions of license.

The bench directed both sides to complete this exercise within 10 days and observed that since the condition of the building was not sound, the plaintiff must close the restaurant and stop all the activities immediately.

However, the plaintiff must not be dispossessed till the next date of hearing as they had agreed to sit with the DHA officials to settle the matter and hand over the possession of the building to the DHA subject to clearance of their liabilities and adjustment of advance amount if any, the bench added. The matter was adjourned till July 11.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2019