KARACHI, May 17: The district and sub-registrars of properties have been directed to refuse registration of any sale or lease deed in respect of immovable property in the city without a no-objection certificate from the Karachi Building Control Authority.

A notification issued by the provincial board of revenue and submitted in the Sindh High Court on Monday exempted agricultural land from the purview of the ban. The notification was issued in compliance of an SHC order.

The authority had been complaining that offending builders and owners created third party interests and presented the KBCA with a fait accompli. Innocent purchasers are persuaded to resist any legal action against the violative structures.

They are also told to initiate legal proceedings to protect their own interests and defend those of the builders in courts. The KBCA is then asked to find a way out to regularize the violations and enforce the building rules without adversely affecting the purchasers' interests.

The notification, which exempts agricultural land from its purview, follows SHC orders in two writ petitions conveyed to the board of revenue by a provincial government law officer. The petitions were moved against developers/owners of two PECHS plots by several residents of the area.

In one petition, the residents alleged that the builder/owner of plot number 7-L, Block 2, PECHS, were raising construction in violation of the Sindh Building Control Ordinance, 1979, and the Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations, 2002. The other petition, by another set of resident petitioners, levelled identical allegations against the builder/owner of plot number 7-J, Block 2, PECHS.

A division bench comprising Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and Mohammad Afzal Soomro asked the SHC nazir to inspect the two sites and submit his reports about the alleged violations.

The nazir confirmed the allegations and stated in his reports that, among other violations, the mandatory open space had been partially covered. Two floors, besides the ground floor, had been constructed and it appeared that the builders/owners were constructing flats instead of bungalows.

The KBCA submitted that it approved plans for residential bungalows on the two plots. However, the structures as raised so far indicated that apartment blocks were being constructed.

The builders were continuing violations despite notices served on them. It requested the court to ask the provincial government to ensure that no immovable property was sold without a no-objection certificate from the authority that it conformed to the approved plan.

The bench restrained the builders/owners from raising further construction and also refrain from creating third party interests. In the meanwhile, the provincial government was told to ensure that no sale or lease deed was executed or registered without an NOC from the KBCA.

UTPs production: The Sindh High Court on Monday once again directed the provincial home secretary to comply with the court's order about the production of under-trial prisoners before trial courts, adds PPI.

Justice Azizullah M. Memon ordered this while hearing the bail application of Qurban Ali, who is facing trial on the charge of injuring Gulshan Chohan and others in the Bhit Shah area.

The secretary of the home department was directed on May 5 to furnish the reasons for the non-production of the applicant before the trial court and as for how many days he could not be produced.

The court also asked what remedial efforts had been put in by the provincial government to resolve complaints being raised by the trial court that cases were not proceeded with for reason that the UTPs were not produced so that the deposition of prosecution could be recorded.

The court today observed that the reply of the home secretary as directed had not come on record yet and once again directed him to make compliance of the court order before further action was taken against him.

"Before taking any further action against the provincial home secretary, he may, once again be directed to make compliance of said order," the court ordered and fixed the matter for May 25.