KARACHI, Dec 27: An amenity plot could not be put to any other use even by special permission or by altering the zonal plan, the Sindh High Court declared on Friday.
Dismissing a builder’s writ petition against sealing of his under-construction ground-plus-nine-floor building at Gulistan-i- Jauhar, a division bench comprising Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and Amir Hani Muslim upheld the Karachi Development Authority (Sindh Amendment) Act, 1994, declaring that ‘no amenity plot shall be converted to or utilized for any other purpose’.
Petitioner Mazhar Ali Gilani submitted that he purchased a 1040-square-yard plot (No SD-2) in Block 2 of Gulistan-i-Jauhar. The plot was reserved for the construction of a hospital but he got approval for its conversion into a commercial plot from the city district government. A 10-floor building plan was approved by the Karachi Building Control Authority after confirmation by the city government.
Certain residents of the locality, however, raised objections when he started construction of the building. Complaints were submitted to the provincial ombudsman, the city government and the KBCA and, acting on them, the last-mentioned sealed the premises.
KBCA counsel Shahid Jamil Khan produced a copy of the 1994 KDA (Amendment) Act forbidding conversion of an amenity plot even by special permission or by an alteration of the zonal plan. Appreciating the assistance, the bench dismissed the petition in limine along with accompanying applications.
RESIDENTIAL PLOT: However, the bench held in another case, conversion of a residential plot into a commercial plot in a locality declared commercial by the provincial government by amending the zonal plan in terms of Article 40 (3) of the KDA Order of 1958, required no public notice or hearing.
The ruling came on a petition moved by a PECHS resident, who alleged that the owner of plot number 172-P, Block 2, PECHS, main Tariq Road, was unlawfully raising a commercial building. The plot, he said, was initially earmarked as residential and could not be put to commercial use without inviting and hearing public objections.
The owner submitted through Advocate Khalid Jawed Khan that the plot had validly been commercialized through a resolution adopted by the KDA governing body in May 1979. The city government was asked to produce a copy of the resolution allowing conversion of residential into commercial plots on Tariq Road as claimed by the owner’s counsel.
The bench also asked KBCA counsel Shahid Jamil Khan to produce the relevant record. According to a 1998 notification produced by the counsel, commercialization of plots was allowed on six roads, including Tariq Road (up to the Bahadurabad commercial area), by the provincial government in 1989.
Dismissing the petition after examining the record, the bench observed that once a whole area had been declared commercial, there was no need for public notice or hearing for conversion of individual plots.
DISMISSED: The petition challenging conviction of a civilian, Haji Ghulam Abbas, by the Field General Court Martial was dismissed by the Sindh High Court, adds PPI.
Petitioner Shakila Firdous moved the SHC against conviction of her husband by the FGCM on charges of seducing Pakistan Air Force personnel from their duties.
A division bench of the SHC, comprising Justices Muhammad Roshan Essani and Zia Pervez, observed that no appeal had been submitted by the petitioner’s husband before the competent authority. Moreover, the alleged offence was committed at the PAF Base, Chaklala, and he was convicted and sentenced by the FGCM.