KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday assailed the Sindh government for not filing a compliance report regarding its order for removal of encroachments from Karachi, unauthorised construction and other issues, summoned Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and directed him to comply with the order within 30 days.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and also comprising Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Qazi Mohammad Amin Ahmed, was hearing a number of cases pertaining to encroachments, illegal constructions and Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) at the SC’s Karachi registry.

At the outset of hearing, when the chief justice asked about a compliance report in the light of its order passed on May 9, 2019, the bench was informed that the advocate general was not in attendance while other representatives of the provincial government could not offer any satisfactory reply. Thereafter, the chief justice issued a directive for the chief minister to appear before the bench immediately.

While appearing before the court along with some provincial ministers, CM Shah extended an apology for delay in filing the compliance report and explained that the provincial government, despite the coronavirus pandemic, had initiated and completed many projects of roads, sewerage, removal of encroachment from footpaths and the recently launched the Malir Expressway project.

However, the chief justice reminded him that it did not make any sense, as the Supreme Court was concerned about implementation of its order. He observed that the order had been passed over one and a half years ago, but nothing had happened since then. CM Shah contended that there was a lot of progress made on the part of provincial authorities to comply with the apex court order and sought two weeks to submit its report.

The bench then granted one month with the direction to file a compliance report.

The SC in its May 9, 2019 order observed there was a total collapse of all civic agencies in Karachi and directed the Sindh government, especially the chief minister, to take proper action for remedying the state of affairs of the metropolis. The bench had asked the CM to sit with all agencies of the city and also the mayor to resolve the issues of encroachments, sewerage, illegal and unauthorised constructions.

Referring to a news report, the chief justice expressed displeasure over Minister for Local Bodies Syed Nasir Shah, who was also accompanying the chief minister, for directing the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) to issue decisions on the files of ABAD members seeking no-objection certificates on a priority basis.

While Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani was about to leave along with the chief minister, the chief justice asked Mr Ghani to sit in the courtroom as a contempt of court matter against him was also fixed for hearing.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2020