KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has issued notices to the defence secretary, station commander of Malir, president of Cantonment Board Malir and others on a petition filed against a sacrificial animal market set up on the premises of a private housing society.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi restrained till June 2 the Malir cantonment from interfering in the land of the petitioner located in Gulzar-i-Hijri and also put the advocate general on notice.

The bench in its order stated that as per the petitioner’s lawyer, the cantonment authorities along with area police were attempting to forcibly use the subject land to establish a market of sacrificial animals.

The Cutchi Memon Cooperative Housing Society Limited, through its general secretary, filed the petition stating that they had approached the SHC to restrain the respondents from holding the sacrificial animal market on 40 acres of land of the petitioner and not to cause any damage to the development work being carried out there.

Housing society asks SHC to restrain respondents from setting up market on 40 acres of its land

The lawyer for the petitioner argued that the cantonment authorities had not been carrying out cleaning work after holding animal market and their contractors had recklessly damaging the development work on the society land, boundary walls and water and sewerage lines from 2003 to 2021.

The petitioner cited the defence secretary, station commander Malir, president of Malir cantonment, SHO of Sachal police station and others as respondents.

The counsel submitted that the petitioner had been sending letters to the respondents since 2003 to stop the livestock market on the land in question and sought compensation for damages, but they did not respond.

The petitioner asked the court to declare that the respondents had no legal authority to forcibly hold the sacrificial animal market on its land.

The society sought a restraining order against the respondents, their agents and servants from holding such a market and causing damage to the development works on the premises of the housing scheme.

Meanwhile, the same bench has directed the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) to remove illegal and unauthorised construction from a plot in district Central.

The director single-window facility of the SBCA submitted that the process of issuance of construction permit about the property in question was initiated on March 24.

He claimed that there was no imitation about passing of a court order on March 17 against the subject property.

The SBCA director submitted that the construction in question had been raised in violation of approved building plan and the construction permit was issued on April 1 and he undertook to remove the illegal construction in 15 days.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2022