KARACHI, Feb 13: A division bench of the Sindh High Court ordered on Wednesday that no demolition should be carried out in connection with the Lyari Expressway until Feb 20, when four petitions challenging such an action would come up.

The bench comprised Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Ali Aslam Jaferi.

When the petition filed by Mr Sultan, Mrs Razia, Mr Mohammed Rafiq and Ms Sadia, through counsel Ghulam Abbas Soomro, came up, the KMC lawyer filed comments.

The Secretary Local Government, District Coordination Officer, City District Nazim, Director-General of the Lyari Development Authority and Advocate-General Sindh have been made respondents in the petition.

They have approached the court, apprehending demolition of their property in the government’s campaign to remove encroachments and prayed to declare such an act illegal and without any legal basis.

It is the case of the petitioner Sultan, who is engaged in export of vegetables and fruits, that he had bought a plot of 5,000 square yards for Rs1.5 million and had spent a considerable amount to raise the infrastructure.

The petitioner has claimed that without adequate notice and compensation his property cannot be demolished

The other petition was of the Pir Illahi Bux Cooperative Housing Society, which was represented by Ainuddin and Shaukat Shaikh, advocates.

The petitioner was aggrieved by the notice received on Jan 23 from the respondent No 6, that is, the Lyari Express Way Committee, Union Council No 3, Gulshan-i-Iqbal Town, Karachi, calling upon to demolish the houses of 263 lease holders which are affected by the project.

The petitioner submitted a detailed reply wherein it was contended that the action was mala fide, as under the law no person could be deprived of property rights without due process of law.

It is the case of the petitioner that the city government had announced a policy of compensation that all the encroachers/ affected persons would be given a 80 square-yard plot in Hawkes Bay or Surjani Town with Rs50,000, but no scheme or compensation for the lease holders has been announced by the government for compensation.

The policy was only announced to remove encroachers, illegal occupants, illegally-built houses up to 50 feet from the Lyari river. Now the government is extending/expanding the Lyari Expressway more than 100 feet wide in the limits of PIB Colony which will directly affect lease holders of the housing society.

It is the case of the petitioners that they have built their own houses and invested millions of rupees and their valuable property rights cannot be disturbed or taken away without due process of law, that is, under the Land Acquisition Act, and compensation be paid to them according to the market value of the property to the members of the housing society.

The city government’s threat to demolish 263 leased houses of individual allottees of the housing society is without following the procedure as laid down under the Land Acquisition Act. Therefore such acts of the respondents are illegal, unlawful, unwarranted and in violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the constitution.

The petitioners have contended that the respondents have given an impression in the media that all the occupants of the Lyari riverbed and the land in its vicinity had illegally occupied government land.

The petitioner have demanded stalling the demolition on the ground that the housing society is the lawful owner of the land and it has legally allotted plots to its members.

The proposed action of the respondents regarding demolition of 263 leased holder rights of the property of the petitioner members of the housing society is in violation of the provisions of article 4 of the constitution.

In accordance with the provision of article 24 of the constitution the petitioner members of the housing society cannot be deprived of their valuable property rights without payment of adequate compensation as per the market value of the property under the Land Acquisition Act of 1894.

The petitioners have contended that the legislature has provided adequate safeguard and protection even to the encroachers under sections 3, 4 and 12 of the Sindh Public Property (Removal of Encroachments) Act of 1975. As such, the proposed action against the petitioner members of the housing society, who have valid title, are not warranted by law.

The general grievance of the public is that the government is not taking the action according to the plan and it has been harassing to demolish the houses in the garb of extension of the expressway.

The petitioners have also prayed for declaring the impugned notice issued by the respondent No 6 regarding demolition of the houses of the petitioner members of the housing society are illegal.

To direct the respondent Nos 1 to 6, their agents, servants and sub- ordinates to refrain from demolishing the petitioner members of the housing society valuable property, except in accordance with law.

Similar contentions have also been made by Shaukat Shaikh, advocate, in another petition filed by Mr Masood and others, also residents of PIB Colony. Notice was issued to the advocate-general, the Town Nazim of Gulshan-i-Iqbal and the city government.

When the petition filed by Fazle Ghani, advocate, on behalf of 347 residents of Mianwali Colony, demanding lease, came up, AAG Suleman Habibullah and counsel for the respondents pointed out that a similar petition of the petitioners had been dismissed by this court. The AAG submitted that the petitioners had no lease, so they were not entitled to any relief and they were to be treated as encroachers.

The court however fixed the matter for Feb 20. In all the matters the direction was to restrain the respondents from demolishing the settlements.

The Lyari riverbed of 100 metres width on either side had been encroached upon and approximately 1.5 million square yards government land was occupied illegally by land mafia.

The project cost of the Expressway has been estimated at Rs4 billion and it will be completed in 36 months (three years). Funded by the federal government, the first tranche of the project Rs500 million, allocated in the federal budget, has been released.

Displaced persons would, reportedly, be in the first place provided 80 squared-yard plot in Surjani Town and Saeedabad and Rs50,000 cash as compensation.

According one report, about 14,000 families, residing along the riverbed, would be replaced and provided with alternative land free of cost besides.

The city government had proposed amendments in the design of the project not only to save many people from being displaced but also for saving considerable government fund. The local government had suggested that this could be achieved by keeping the width of the Expressway at 40 feet throughout.