KARACHI, Sept 14: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday paved the way for shifting of all bus and coach stands in various parts of the city to Malir by dismissing a writ petition moved by a number of people occupying the 45-acre stretch earmarked for the new inter-city and inter-provincial bus terminal and also imposing Rs50,000 as fine on them.

The occupants of the land at Goth Yusuf Khan, Malir, approached the high court to question the ejectment notices served on them by the city district government. The notices said they had no right or title whatsoever to the land and were in unlawful possession of it as squatters. They were asked to vacate their possession so that the terminal project could be commenced promptly.

The petitioners submitted that they had long been living in the village and their 'goth' was regularized under the Gothabad Scheme in 1997. The notice served by the city district government was illegal and should be declared so by the high court.

The city district government legal adviser, Advocate Manzoor Ahmed, informed the court that the petitioners' plea was bogus and baseless. He said the Goth Yusuf Khan was considered for inclusion in the Gothabad Scheme in 1997, but was excluded soon afterward.

The village was not covered by the scheme and the petitioners were encroachers. They knew that they had no title to the land occupied by them. He said the writ jurisdiction of the high court could not be invoked by encroachers. The petition, he added, was frivolous.

Appearing for the provincial government, Additional Advocate-General M. Ahmed Pirzada supported the city government's position. He said the land belonged to the Sindh government, which had transferred it to the CDGK for use as a bus terminal.

He said inter-city and inter-provincial bus and coach stands were spread all over the city and were causing traffic problems and air and noise pollution. Under the new terminal project, all the bus stands, including those situated at Saddar and Cantonment Station would be shifted outside the busy areas.

Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Maqbool Baqar, who constituted the division bench that heard the petition, dismissed the petition and fined the petitioners Rs 50,000. The fine was ordered to be deposited with the SHC nazir.

In a petition against the conversion of an amenity plot in Orangi Town, meanwhile, the bench asked the city district government to produce the record. The conversion was challenged by petitioner M. Asghar through Advocate M Yasin Azad in 1992.

According to the respondent, he was allowed by the defunct Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, the CDGK's predecessor, to convert the plot.Advocate Manzoor Ahmed sought time to verify the respondent's assertion from the record. The bench adjourned the hearing to Sept 30.