KARACHI, Jan 10: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday gave the police four weeks to vacate unlawful possession of the Sher Shah plot housing the area police station. The order was passed by Justice Maqbool Baqar in a suit instituted by a paint manufacturing concern, which claimed that the plot was allotted to it for setting up its plant. The claim was, however, contested by the Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate (SITE), which owns the land.

But the SITE administration said the plot was industrial and was never intended to house a police station.

About the police contention that it was invited by the administration several years ago to curb lawlessness in the area, the administration said its request to the provincial government to set up a police station in its remit could not be interpreted as an invitation to occupy a plot without any legal right.

The police also submitted that it required considerable time for acquiring a new site and carrying out construction on it. The new site must easily be accessible to the people and convenient to the police to keep a watch. The police station could not be shifted hastily.

The court observed that the suit had been pending for many years and the police had sufficient time to choose an alternative site and shift to it. It could not be allowed to occupy any plot for the purpose of establishing a police station. It directed the force to vacate the suit property within four weeks.

DEMOLITION: A division bench comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Faisal Arab issued notices to the respondents for January 24 in a petition moved by residents of UC-7, Bin Qasim Town, against demolition of their houses.