KARACHI: The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) on Tuesday approached the Sindh High Court against sealing of the Karachi Cotton Exchange building and forcibly ejecting all tenants/occupants of the historical structure.

The KMC submitted that the impugned sealing order had been jointly issued by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) without issuing any notice to the petitioner for commencement of any proceedings for declaring the subject property as evacuee trust property.

The petitioner further contended that the ETPB and FIA lacked jurisdiction to declare any property as evacuee trust property since the same was no longer a federal subject and subsequently, a provincial law on the subject matter had also been enacted in 2019.

Citing the ministry of interior, ministry of religious affairs & interfaith harmony, ETPB, FIA, chief secretary of Sindh and others as respondents, the KMC filed two petitions in the SHC impugning the sealing order and subsequent registration of an FIR.

Representing the petitioner, advocate Haider Waleed along with mayor of Karachi Murtaza Wahab argued that Dec 12 ex-parte sealing order was unlawful and without jurisdiction and the building had been sealed on a false pretext of its title being vested with the federal government.

‘Unlawful’ sealing order is nothing but a preposterous tactic to usurp the heritage property, SHC told

They asserted that the mala fide actions of the sealing and usurping the subject property were conducted by the FIA through an unlawful raid, barging into the building and ejecting all tenants/occupants through brute force, abuse of power and in an oppressive/unconstitutional manner.

The lawyers also contended that no prior notice was issued to the petitioner on the subject matter and even otherwise, neither the ETPB nor the FIA had jurisdiction to declare any property as evacuee trust property or to intervene with the peaceful/lawful possession of the same.

They claimed that impugned sealing order was nothing but a farcical and preposterous tactic to usurp the property by the federation despite the fact that matters pertaining to evacuee property no longer fall within the domain of the parliament in the wake of the 18th Amendment and subsequent enactment of the Sindh Evacuee Trust Properties (Management & Disposal) Act, 2019.

They argued that upon passing of such act, any evacuee trust property in the province of Sindh would exclusively stand vested in the province of Sindh and not in the federal government/ETPB.

They further maintained that impugned sealing order was utterly unconstitutional, wholly without jurisdiction and nothing but an attempt to encroach upon the legislative and executive functions of Sindh.

The counsel argued that the Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) was the lessee to the subject property granted by the KMC and evidenced by the duly registered conveyance deed dated July 22, 1936 and after expiry of initial lease granted for 99 years, the same was renewed by the petitioner Nov 19, 1982 for a further period of 99 years till 2081.

They also submitted that subsequent to the mala fide actions of sealing and usurping the subject property, a FIR was lodged at FIA Anti-Corruption Circle police station on Dec 13 under Sections /409/419/ 466/467/468 /471/109 of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 and Section 7 of the Public Properties (Removal of Encroachment) Ordinance, 2021 against various persons, including responsible officers of the KMC.

The lawyers asserted that the KMC through the mayor had written a letter to the FIA about lacking lawful jurisdiction over the property and such reckless acts severely affected the nation’s economy and the confidence of the business community, but in response, the FIA attempted to justify such mala fide acts by alleging that the property was declared as “Evacuee Trust Property” through an entry published in the gazette in 1963.

They further asserted that the impugned gazette entry was itself illegal, void without jurisdiction as it was beyond the scope of The Pakistan Administration of Evacuee Property Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as the “1957 Act”), the governing law at the relevant time.

They argued that Section 3 of the law expressly stipulated that no property was to be treated as evacuee property on or after Jan 1, 1957 (cut-off date) and thus the impugned gazette entry issued after the cut-off date.

The petitioner pleaded to declare impugned sealing order and eviction notice as well the impugned FIR unlawful, unconstitutional and without jurisdiction.

The KMC also sought interim relief asking the SHC to suspend operation of the FIR and to restrain the respondents from taking any coercive action against the petitioner including but not limited to attachment of property/assets and arrest of its functionaries/officials/servants/agents along with the les­se­­es/occupants of the subject property till final disposal of these petitions.

After a preliminary hearing, a two-judge constitutional bench of the SHC headed by Justice Adnanul Karim Memon through an interim order restrained the FIA from taking coercive action against the officials of KMC and others on the basis of impugned FIR till Jan 9.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2026