SUKKUR: An assistant director in the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) was detained on a court order for allowing construction of certain buildings on the irrigation department’s lands and showing slackness in complying with the Sindh High Court’s orders pertaining to the demolition of such structures within his jurisdiction.

The SHC Sukkur bench comprising Justice Aftab Ahmed Gorar and Justice Mehmood A. Khan was on Tuesday hearing a petition against several thousand concrete and other illegally raised structures — including many multistorey buildings — on the department’s land occupied by unscrupulous elements across the province.

The petition was filed by Irrigation Trade Union Federation Sindh president Mian Abdul Raheem Bharo.

The bench had issued an order for the removal of all such encroachments several months ago and allowed more time and grace period to the respondents during the previous hearings. Necessary directives were also issued during one such hearing asking the officials concerned to spare certain mosques and show some leniency in terms of time limit to managements of major hospitals for shifting of patients.

The Tuesday hearing was attended by senior officials of the irrigation and revenue departments as well as those of the SBCA, besides officials of the Sukkur, Khairpur, Larkana, Ghotki and some other district administrations. They submitted their reports in the court about progress of the anti-encroachment drive they supervised.

The bench expressed its dissatisfaction over the pace of the drive and the progress made so far to retrieve the occupied lands of the irrigation department.

The report filed by an SBCA assistant director, Latif Jarwar, invited the ire of the bench, which ordered his detention. Mr Jarwar was immediately taken into custody. He was found responsible for the permission granted for the construction of certain buildings on the irrigation department’s lands within his jurisdiction.

The bench repeated its order for the removal of all buildings and structures on the department’s lands including those turned into commercial centres, within the next 48 hours. It asked the officials concerned to submit a compliance report within the given time.

The bench warned them that non-implementation of the orders could lead to action against them and issuance of contempt notices. Any official, be it a chief engineer or assistant commissioner, could be sent to jail, the bench added.

Justice Gorar at one stage explained that the one-month deadline for eviction was only for residents of illegally occupied houses, and not for those who had built commercial concerns. “We know that houses of only poor people are being demolished [in the drive]”, he observed and ordered immediate removal of commercial structures, including hotels, guesthouses, petrol pumps and hospitals.

Later in the day, the Sukkur district administration moved into action and started razing illegal structures. Occupation of a part of Lab-i-Mehran — the landmark recreation spot in the city — was retrieved from its occupant, Kumail Hyder Shah, the son of Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah.

SHC Bar protests demolition of lawyers’ offices

The Sindh High Court Bar Association, Sukkur chapter, boycotted court proceedings on Tuesday in protest against demolition of the offices of several of its members “despite a stay order obtained by them from a court of law”.

SHCBA Sukkur president Qurban Malano and other leaders led the protest.

They said that offices of lawyers were demolished in Khairpur in violation of the stay order they had obtained. They condemned the Khairpur district administration over the “unlawful” act and described it as contempt of court.

They said the SHC should take notice of the illegal act and take action against the responsible officials to end the unrest prevailing among the lawyers’ fraternity.

Police warned against non-cooperation

The same bench heard forest officials in a petition against occupation of the department’s lands on Tuesday.

While informing the bench that more than 5,900 acres of forest land had been retrieved from occupants so far, the officials complained that in some areas police were not cooperating with them in the drive.

Justice Gorar remarked that police officers seemed to be interested only in their posting; they are not ready to work with honesty. He warned all officials that no slackness would be tolerated in getting state lands retrieved.

The police officers who would not cooperate in the drive could not only be removed from their place of posting but from service as well, the bench warned. The hearing was adjourned for a week.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2020