KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Sindh government, Karachi mayor and others in a petition seeking enforcement of the law against defacement of public property.

Advocate Tariq Mansoor moved the SHC against the defacement of government buildings, parks, playgrounds, roads, utility‑service poles, etc and submitted that the menace had been growing in the form of wall‑chalking, affixing posters, banners, hoardings and advertisements.

Citing the chief secretary, local government secretary, Karachi mayor and commissioner, inspector general of police and prosecutor general as respondents, the petitioner argued that the Prevention of Defacement of Property Act (PDPA) was enacted in 2013, but it had not been implemented yet.

A two-judge constitutional bench headed by Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry put the respondents, as well as the advocate general, on notice for Feb 10.

Bench asked to order formation of task force, frame rules mandated under Prevention of Defacement of Property Act

The petitioner submitted that the law was enacted around 12 years ago to prevent defacement of private and public property, but the same has not been enforced in its letter and spirit.

He stated that an anti-property defacement task force, mandated in the law, had not been constituted so far and as a result defacement of public property was persistently continuing.

The petitioner argued that the subject matter was not only linked with the right of life as provided in Article 9 of the Constitution, but also associated with various other constitutional provisions.

He submitted that the law had prohibited defacement of any property in any manner whatsoever with an intention to attract public attention and provided punitive action with imprisonment in case of contravention of its provisions.

He maintained that in addition to the task force, the act also provided preparation of a comprehensive anti-defacement programme and removal of existing defacement from the property.

The petitioner asked the SHC to issue directives for the respondents to immediately enforce the law in its letter and spirit without any exception across the board.

He also pleaded for constitution of the task force and preparation of a comprehensive anti-defacement of programme as provided in Section 4 of the act.

He further sought directive for respondents to frame rules under the act within 30 days.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2025