ISLAMABAD, Oct 18: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) to serve notices in a week on the owners of buildings constructed in Block 2 and 3 of the Pakistan Employees Cooperative Housing Society (PECHS), Karachi, in violation of the building rules.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi also directed the senior member of the Central Board of Revenue (CBR), Karachi, to provide by October 27 complete details of the officials concerned who allowed construction of these commercial buildings in PECHS without first getting the KBCA’s no objection certificate (NOC).

On a suo motu, the bench was hearing an application of a citizen from Karachi, Mian Tariq Jamil Pagganwala, who had alleged that with the alleged connivance of the KBCA, commercial buildings were being constructed in residential Block 2 and Block 3 of the PECHS without getting an NOC.

Additional Controller (Legal) KBCA Shahid Jamil also informed the court that 17 buildings had been constructed in violation of building rules for commercial purposes in Block 2 and Block 3 of the PECHS by violating the permission to build two storeys in addition to a ground floor.

Despite the legal requirement to get an NOC from the KBCA, nobody applied for the same, he complained.