KARACHI: Almost a month after the Supreme Court directed the chief minister to remove the acting director general of the Sindh Building Control Authority over mushroom growth of illegal structures in Karachi, the provincial government on Tuesday suspended over two dozen senior officials, including directors and deputy directors, on “charges of corruption and malpractices” and set up a committee for inquiry against all the officials, a notification and sources said.

They said the fresh move to suspend a total of 28 officials from the authority was part of the Supreme Court orders which strongly criticised the SBCA’s role and questioned the credibility of its officials, who failed to regulate the building bylaws in the city and allowed illegal structures in the metropolis.

The notification issued by the Sindh local government and housing and town planning department also announced an inquiry committee which would conduct an inquiry into the role of the suspended officials.

“The suspended officials include Adil Umar and Jamil Memon, directors of the SBCA,” said a source citing details of the notification. “Among other officials there are five deputy directors, 14 assistant directors and seven building inspectors. The committee which is tasked with an inquiry against the 28 officials is headed by Chiraghuddin Hingoro, special secretary for the local government and housing and town planning department. It has been directed to complete its report within six weeks.”

The Supreme Court last month had criticised the SBCA over the mushroom growth of unauthorised structures in the provincial metropolis and directed the chief minister to immediately remove the acting director general and other top officials of the SBCA, which was notified within the next few hours.

Supreme Court had sought removal of the acting DG and other officials over the mushroom growth of illegal structures in Karachi

A three-judge SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, had observed that apparently the SBCA had compromised on the rules and pushed Karachi to the brink of disaster, adding that its director general had become a rubber stamp as he was unable to take decisions as per law. It said SBCA officials were allegedly involved in illegal activities and taking bribes and other government officials were also supporting them.

The court had also directed the Sindh chief secretary to take over the affairs of the SBCA and produce before it on next hearing all approvals given by the authority for the construction of buildings, apart from ground-plus-two-storey ones.

“The officials who were suspended included those facing inquiry by the National Accountability Bureau but, interestingly, they were serving as officers till the notification of their suspension was issued,” said a source. “For instance the NAB, Karachi, last year claimed to have seized valuables worth millions of rupees during a raid at the house of senior SBCA officer Adil Umar, who was then looking after the authority as its deputy director general. The NAB after the raid shared details saying that during a search of his residence, several luxury vehicles and assets worth over a billion rupees were recovered that appeared to have been acquired from ill-gotten money accumulated through embezzlement of the national exchequer.”

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2020