LAHORE, Aug 2: A division bench of the Supreme Court, consisting of justices Khalilur Rehman Ramday and Falak Sher, on Thursday imposed a fine of Rs5 million on Alamgir Tower’s builder for violating building bylaws.

According to the plans submitted by the builder, he was to dig the ground up to 30 feet to construct three basements but ended up digging up to 70 feet. The judges directed the builder to refill the ground in a week.

The court asked him whether he was trying to get down to the hell by digging so deep without considering the safety of the neighbouring buildings.

The court ruled the revised building plan submitted by the builder would not be considered till the payment of fine and filling of the basement.

According to an inspection report submitted to the court, the builder submitted the plan to build a 139-foot high building of nine floors but later submitted a revised plan to raise the height of the building to 450 feet.

“You don’t have the technology to protect people on the fourth floor, and you are thinking of building a 450-foot high rise. Can you imagine what will happen to the people living in the basement in the event of power failure?” the court observed.

The court observed the builder had exceptionally been allowed to raise the 450 feet high-rise by relaxing the height restrictions. No thought has been given to the requirements of people who will live on the 36th floor of the building either. The court asked the builder if he had ever seen a 450-foot high building before planning the high rise.

Also, the builder of 11-floor Big City informed the court that he had been running powerlooms in Gujranwala before starting the project. He said he had built only one floor against the site plan but had submitted a revised plan for approval to the Lahore Development Authority (LDA). The court directed the builder to produce income tax assessment orders of the past 10 years on Aug 6 to establish his monetary credentials.

The judges warned the owner of Goldmine Centre that he would have to go jail for gross illegalities committed by him. They observed an inspection report had revealed that construction work was going on against the court directions.

China Centre builders claimed that their architect had informed them that they were not required to leave a 10-foot open space around the building. The court directed them to appear with the architect on the next date of hearing.

The court took a serious note of leaving less than the required open space around the building by Raja Sahib Builder. The Liberty Gate builder was directed to increase the width of staircase in accordance with the site plan within two weeks. Owners of Garden Park and Arshad Plaza were directed to produce original ownership documents.

The LDA director general said the authority had no structural engineers to asses building projects. He said he had approached the Punjab Public Service Commission for the recruitment of structural engineers but suitable people had not been found. The court will resume the hearing of the case on Aug 6.