KARACHI: The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Saturday moved the Sindh High Court against the recent amendments to the Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations (KBPTR) 2002 that allowed commercial use of residential properties.

PTI leader Khurram Sher Zaman stated in the petition that the amendments carried out by the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) were ultra vires the Sindh Building Control Ordinance, 1979.

He made the local government secretary and SBCA director general respondents in the petition and stated that the authority had exceeded the delegated powers under the ordinance.

He said that the impugned amendments were made without any lawful authority and of no legal effect.

SHC to take up next week petitions filed by Clifton residents, JI and Pasban against controversial amendments

The petitioner maintained that the impugned regulations were also contrary to the fundamental rights of citizens.

He asked the court to set aside the controversial changes to KBPTR.

Later, talking to the media on the premises of the SHC, Mr Sher Zaman said that the PPP had plotted against Karachi by allowing the SBCA to make such amendments.

He demanded that the ruling party in Sindh take back the controversial amendments.

Earlier, the SHC had issued notices to the provincial authorities for April 22 on three identical petitions impugning these amendments.

Leader of the Opposition in the City Council Advocate Saifuddin and various other elected local government representatives of the Jamaat-i-Islami, the Pasban Democratic Party and several residents of Clifton had filed separate petitions in the SHC.

They had argued that the amendments were against the very definition of “residential uses” and would practically lead to conversion of a residential property into a commercial one without fulfilment of any requirements for change of land use as provided in the KBTPR 2002.

They also submitted that such changes cannot be sustained as the parent law did not provide for any such authority either to the SBCA or the master plan department.

They also stated that the amendment in question was amount to permitting a radical and abrupt change in the zoning regulations/master plan of the entire city to the detriment of all residents.

The petitioners asked the court to declare the impugned notification as unconstitutional, ultra vires the Constitution as well as the SBCO and liable to be set aside.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2025