KARACHI: The Supreme Court is set to begin hearing from Wednesday (today) on dozens of cases pertaining to unauthorised constructions, encroachments on public spaces, conversion of residential and amenity plots as well as implementation of its directives regarding demolition of 15-storey Nasla Tower and under-construction Tejori Heights Tower.

A three-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed will take up the cases at the apex court’s Karachi registry till Friday.

The applications filed for rehabilitation of the displaced people of Gujjar, Orangi and Mehmoodabad nullahs and Karachi Circular Railways project will also be taken up for hearing.

The issue of the alleged allotment of a piece of land of the Civil Aviation Authority for building another terminal at Karachi airport to private persons by the Board of Revenue is also fixed for hearing. The director general of the Federal Investigation Agency is set to appear in person along with details of allotment.

The show-cause notices earlier issued to the South City Hospital and Ziauddin Hospitals, located in Clifton, for allegedly running their health facilities on land meant for amenity purposes is likely to be taken up by the three-judge bench.

Applications against alleged illegal conversion of plots as well as water issues in Defence Housing Authority, alleged commercial activities on the premises of Askari Park, wedding halls on the premises of CAA are also scheduled to be taken up by the apex court.

The court will also take up applications seeking removal of encroachments from 35,000 amenity plots on 112 sites of the Karachi Development Authority, encroachments on government land in Jacobabad and Nawabshah as well as application about Hyatt Regency Hotel and alleged constructions on the premises of Karachi Gymkhana and restoration of Kidney Hill Park and Aladdin Park.

An application filed in 2017 about the death of five infants due to malnutrition is also part of the cause list.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2021