By a notification dated December 17 1996, Barrister Qazi Faez Isa ('law member') and I ('public representative'), amongst others, were appointed members of the 'Oversee Committee' formed, as required by law, to "oversee the functioning of the Karachi Building Control Authority for a period of two years and until further orders."

By a subsequent notification of March 9, 1999, Barrister Qazi Faez Isa ('law member, advocate with a minimum of ten years of active practice, nominated by the governor') and I ('citizen with proven track record of interest in building matters, nominated by the governor'), amongst others, were appointed for a further period of three years and until further orders as members of the 'Oversee Committee' formed "to oversee and monitor the functioning and operation of the Karachi Building Control Authority."

By a notification dated December 28 1998, I, amongst others, was appointed a member of the governing body of the Karachi Development Authority.

Needless to say, our presence and that of others representing the citizens of Karachi and their associations was resented by the ministers and factotums of the government of Sindh, and the officials of the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) and Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA), and today both committees stand suspended.

The endangered species are those citizens of Karachi either who are living in badly built and/or irregularly and illegally built high-rise buildings or those who own such buildings, or apartments or shops in such buildings.

The Sindh Building Control Ordinance (SBCO) was promulgated in 1979. Section 19 (1A) allows the Building Control Authority to 'compound the offence' of non-building works. 'Regularization' of the civil breaches of the regulations is not mentioned.

Between 1979 and 1994, illegal construction accelerated alarmingly, and our politicians, bureaucrats, and the officials of the KDA and the KBCA grossly misused, by purposefully misinterpreting, the 'compounding' provision of the ordinance in order to 'regularize' illegalities. They made money; they robbed the people.

In 1994, the Supreme Court of Pakistan (Abdul Razak vs KBCA, PLD 1994, SC 512) clarified the difference between the 'compounding' of criminal offences and the 'regularization' of civil breaches of the regulations. It was held by the court that: "There is a marked distinction between a criminal liability under Section 19 of the ordinance and a civil liability under the regulations to rectify irregularity/breaches.

The authority may compound criminal liability but it cannot regularize a breach of the regulations...". The KDA/KBCA ignored the ruling and continues to this day to 'regularize' illegally constructed buildings. So all buildings which may have been 'regularized' since 1979 have been done so without having any legal cover.

From 1995 onwards, concerned citizens of Karachi, spearheaded by the NGO Shehri, organized themselves in order to attempt to tackle the mushrooming of unauthorized constructions which was under way all over their city, particularly in the inner city areas.

In 1996, the KDA/KBCA sealed 260-plus illegal buildings all over the city. This caused the public to cease investing in flats, shops, etc.

At the same time, the builders' mafia, spearheaded by The Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD) (whose members have constructed over 30 such buildings), ran a campaign to have the 260-plus illegal buildings (and some others) 'regularized'.

In the meantime, the sealed buildings were invaded by the builders, completed, and packed with fake occupants.

Early in 1979, the Sindh High Court ordered the demolition of some 200 illegal buildings. The KBCA and the government procrastinated, playing an elaborate game of noora-kushti in order to avoid taking lawful action.

August 1999 saw a massive earthquake in Turkey which killed over 20,000 people, felled some 100,000 structures, and rendered over 600,000 homeless.

The governing body of the KDA warned the public, by inserting notices in the press, about the hazards of illegal and badly constructed buildings, and clearly stated that such structures cannot be regularized

Come the military government of General Pervez Musharraf and the new government in Sindh and the members of ABAD, as of December 1999, started pressuring the federal and provincial governments, recommending that the 260-plus illegal buildings, which according to their terminology, were merely 'irregular', be regularized, citing various benefits, financial and other, which would result from such action.

In March 2000, the ABAD members went to the extent of meeting Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, and guaranteed him a revenue of one crore rupees per building in regularization penalties it regularization was ordered ( telling him that the total government earnings would be somewhere between Rs2 billion and 3 billion).

An advance to the exchequer of Rs250 million was promised by ABAD, but of course was never paid. Shaukat, a clever man, not wanting falling buildings or blood on his hands, passed on the buck to the governor of Sindh.

The governor immediately sprang to action and appointed a committee (the Tasneem Siddiqui Committee), members of which were drawn from the governing body of the KDA. The TS committee examined the 'regularization' issue, recommended regularization and prescribed certain conditions and exceptions.

In the January 2002 earthquake in the Indian state of Gujarat the death toll was over 20,000 people.

In May, the governing body of the KDA approved the TS committee report and sent its recommendations to the governor of Sindh. GB members Mazhar Ali, a builder and developer himself, and I had our dissent recorded. The recommendations hung around until July, when the Sindh cabinet gave its approval to the 'regularization' of illegal buildings, giving rise to stories that Rs5 billion to 10 billion in penalties was likely to be recovered.

Concerned citizens of Karachi and a number of NGOs immediately got going, trying to get the government to see sense and backtrack. They sent letters and petitions to the governor and other concerned officials, they wrote letters to the editors of the main newspapers, and had columns and articles printed on what the effects of such regularizations would have on the city and its citizens.

In December of that year, the governor of Sindh, reacting, promulgated a 'compounding' amendment to SBCO 1979. At this, the citizens once more activated themselves and ran a campaign explaining the difference between 'compounding' and 'regularization'. The Sindh High Court agreed with the citizens' contention.

From the beginning of 2002, illegal construction in Karachi, which over the previous five years had been reduced to a trickle, took off with a bang in the 'laissez faire' atmosphere created by the confusion over the ordinance. The KBCA conveniently looked the other way and piled up the 'regularization' applications which they had accepted.

In March this year, the governor was made to realize the error in the previous 'compounding' ordinance, and was persuaded to promulgate another 'regularization' ordinance.

In May, twelve citizens/organizations - Barrister Qazi Faez Isa, Engineer Roland deSouza, Engineer Noorudin Ahmed, Architect Saleem Thariani, myself and others - filed a constitutional petition (No D-856 of 2002) in the High Court of Sindh, against the province of Sindh, the KBCA and the City District government, Karachi, inter alia praying that the court declare that the ordinance and the notification "are ultra vires the Constitution, void ab initio, illegal and of no legal effect."

The former law member, Qazi Faez Isa, is the petioners' lawyer. The KBCA, by its own admission, has received only 956 applications seeking regularization, and "most of the applicants are members of the general public who have sought regularization of minor deviations.

A very small, almost negligible number of professional builders have applied for regularization under the impugned ordinance. Apparently, the builders' mafia succeeded in persuading and misguiding the government, the governor of Sindh, and his learned cabinet.

"You will no doubt agree with me that the first duty of a government is to maintain law and order so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its citizens are fully protected by the state." (Mohammad Ali Jinnah, August 11, 1947)

This he said 55 years ago. We may just as well forget both him and whatever it was he said, and allow his soul to rest in peace. Amen.