HYDERABAD: While the culture department has finally filed a plea in a civil court to become party in the case of a controversial plot (No. 2727) within the heritage site of Pucca Qila, the district administration has maintained a safe distance from the matter.

Assistant Director of the Culture and Archaeology department Sindhu Chandio on Tuesday filed an application in the court of Senior Civil Judge-III seeking permission to become party in the matter.

The court on February 4 allowed Sheikh Mohammad Imran to continue construction of a multi-storey commercial building on the plot.

The court has fixed the department’s application for February 26 and issued notices to the other side.

The department’s official has also filed an application through Deputy District Attorney Zulfiqar Nabi Satti seeking suspension of the operation of the February 4 order.

She has stated that the plaintiff [Shaikh Mohammad Imran] had obtained the February 4 judgement / decree with mala fide intention and wanted to usurp the property mentioned in his suit.

She submitted that if the operation of the judgement was not stayed, then the applicant side might suffer an irreparable loss which could not be compensated in terms of money.

Administration maintains distance

Meanwhile, construction work on the site of the plot continued at a fast pace. According to the culture department, the plot falls within the fortification wall of the heritage site, Pucca Qila, in the light of the relevant government survey.

The administration, on the other hand, has been maintaining a safe distance from the issue for over a month now after Deputy Commissioner Zain Ul Abiden took initial cognizance of the matter back in December

2024 by getting the work on the multi-storey commercial building stopped through the assistant commissioner concerned.

DC had taken notice after the AC wrote to him on December 18, 2024 seeking his intervention. Then on Jan 8, 2025 the DC had ordered formation of a technical committee in response to the AC’s letter. ADC-I Gada Hussain Soomro had addressed letter to the director of settlement, survey & land records, deputy director of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), director planning & development control and assistant director archaeology and museums.

The ADC-I had urged these officials to “go through enclosed papers and a technical team may be formed comprising survey experts to conduct joint survey of the site, map the 200 feet radius from Pucca Fort’s protective wall using precise tools and determine whether the properties lies within or outside this limit and submit detailed report with findings and recommendation within two days.

However, the technical committee has not been formed to date. Neither the City AC nor the Hyderabad DC looked into the reason why its formation has been delayed.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2025