KARACHI: Residents of Moon Garden, who have been spending nights on the pavements in front of the “illegally-constructed” residential plaza for the past two days, heaved a sigh of relief on Friday when the Sindh High Court directed the police to stop the process of eviction for a week.

A two-judge bench that had on Thursday threw out a petition of some 10 affected residents seeking a stay order against the evacuation reviewed its earlier decision as the petitioners in the light of court’s order moved an application to become a party in the petition against the residential project.

Headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, the bench stayed the eviction of Moon Garden residents till Nov 18 directing the authorities not to force them to vacate their apartments.

According to the intervener residents of the flats, they have been living in legally leased flats and therefore, the decision must be reviewed.

On Wednesday, the SHC had directed the authorities to disconnect all civic utility connections from the impugned project to get it vacated as per the court’s earlier order.

While granting an appeal against the order of a single bench, a division bench, headed by Justice Shah, had on Sept 29 directed the Inspector General of Sindh police and the Karachi police chief to ensure that the project in question was totally vacated within 30 days.

The litigation over the project was initiated in 2007 by the Pakistan Railway Employees Cooperative Housing Society Limited through a suit that culminated in the rejection of its plea for attachment of the entire project with direction to the builder not to carry out any further construction.

According to appellant’s counsel Advocate Muhammad Vawda, the builder did not comply with the court order and continued construction work compelling the housing society to move another application for appointment of commissioner to inspect the site in 2011.

Later, he said, on the court orders the Nazir (court official) and the commissioner submitted their respective reports on Jan 25, 2014 reflecting that the project was unoccupied.

However, the counsel said, the builder continued to raise illegal floors and handed over possession of some offices, shops and flats to people.

In 2008, a petition was also filed in the SHC against the building control authority and the builder and the court had ordered the attachment of the entire building. The builder moved the Supreme Court against the SHC’s order of attachment.

The apex court discharged the attachment order on an undertaking given by the builder that he would neither raise any further floors nor handover the possession to anybody without obtaining a no-objection certificate from the competent authority.

During the course of litigation, the builder’s counsel had submitted in court that the people had themselves occupied the project and his client would have no objection if they were evicted from the project.

While granting the appeal, the court had ordered in the judgement: “In the instant case the project has been occupied in blatant violation and utter disobedience of the undertaking/directions of the Apex Court as well as of this court and consequently we see no alternative but to direct its attachment and to further direct the Inspector General of Police as well as Additional Inspector General of Police, Karachi, to ensure that the project is totally vacated within 30 days hereof, whereafter Respondent No. 1 shall seal the subject project forthwith, which would remain attached/sealed till further orders of this court. We are further of the view that all constructions raised by the respondent No. 7 [builder] after injunctive order dated 17-4-2007 has to be removed/dismantled.”

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2015

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