KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday came down hard on the city administration for allowing establishment of illegal cemetery, mosques and shrines on public spaces and ordered the authorities to remove all encroachments and retrieve the land meant for public parks.

A two-judge SC bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed directed the Karachi commissioner and other officials to remove a graveyard, a mosque and a shrine on the Kidney Hill Park premises and a mosque constructed on another park near Tariq Road within a week and restore the land to its original purpose.

It also asked the commissioner to explore the possibility to shift the graves to a proper cemetery.

CJP rules KMC can’t allow construction of mosque in parks; warns cancellation of illegal allotments in PECHS

The CJP deplored that the city had been facing massive unauthorised and illegal constructions and encroachments on public spaces and there was no way to reverse or fix it.

He remarked that the officials concerned, who were bound to protect such places, did not bother to come out of their offices to address such issues and even not properly implementing directives as the court had already passed several orders about the Kidney Hill Park in the past.

“You are not there to sit for yourselves, but to serve the public,” the CJP further.

Justice Amin said that such misconduct on the part of the officials concerned would lead to their dismissal from service.

The CJP said that there was permission of ground plus one floor, but multi-storey buildings had been raised in Pakistan Employees Cooperative Housing Society (PECHS), North Nazimabad and other parts of the city and feared that there would be destruction in case of an earthquake.

The open spaces on the front and backsides of houses in PECHS are also encroached upon, the CJP said, adding that the land in the PECHS had been allotted in the ‘50s and ‘60s, but surprisingly the cases of recent allotments were still coming on record.

He warned to cancel all such allotments and order registration of FIRs against the officer-bearers of PECHS.

At the outset, the bench asked Commissioner Iqbal Memon about implementation of its earlier orders about the Kidney Hill Park. He replied that the then commissioner in his report submitted in June said all the encroachments had been removed.

However, the court was informed that there was still a graveyard while a new mosque in the place of a demolished mosque as well as a shrine had also been established on the park land.

The CJP expressed serious resentment over the Karachi commissioner, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, administrator of the district municipal corporation-East and assistant commissioner-Ferozabad for not implementing the court orders.

When the bench confronted the officials, Assistant Commissioner Asma Batool submitted that Al-Fateh Mosque had been removed from the park. An application was filed against the removal of the mosque on the ground that the land was leased out in 1990. The bench dismissed the application and observed that the layout plan did not provide any space for mosque and KMC itself had no authority to allot or allow permission of construction of a mosque on the land of a park.

The KMC or any other licensing agency could only give possessory rights and such rights did not culminate into ownership or title of the land, the bench ruled.

When the court was informed that another mosque, Bismillah Masjid, had been raised on the premises of the park, it observed that the same was also illegal even if there was any allotment and directed the commissioner to remove it.

The bench was informed that the authorities concerned had no record of the graves. The court directed the commissioner to retrieve the whole land and if there was any genuine grave the same should be protected.

The bench ordered, “The commissioner Karachi shall also explore a possibility of shifting of the graves from Kidney Hill Park to the properly declared graveyard and take appropriate measures in this regard in accordance with law.”

During the proceedings, the court was informed that another mosque, Madina Masjid, had also been built on a land measuring around 1,100 square yard shown as a park in PECHS on main Tariq Road.

The bench expressed resentment at DMC-East administrator when he requested it to pass an order about the removal of the mosque and said that it was his duty to restore public spaces. It directed the administrator to ensure the removal of the mosque and other encroachments in a week and restore the land as a park.

The CJP expressed anger at AC Batool when the bench was informed that she had tried to stop the demolition work of 15-storey Nasla Tower. The bench warned her that she could be sent to prison. She contended that the work was halted temporarily to take preventive and safely measures.

On a previous hearing, the commissioner had informed the bench that the 62-acre land of the Kidney Hill Park had been retrieved and a PC-I of Rs950m had been submitted to develop it as a model park.

Al-Bari Towers

The ministry of housing and works in its report informed the apex court that the land located in Bahadur Yar Jang Cooperative Housing Society and used to build Al-Bari Towers was not allotted as it was meant for amenity purposes.

However, appearing on behalf of the builder senior lawyer Rasheed A. Razvi sought adjournment on the ground that he had not received copies of the reports including the one filed by the ministry.

The bench adjourned the hearing till Jan 11 and directed him to obtain the copies from its office and come prepared on the next date.

On the last hearing, the bench was informed that a plot measuring 3,931 square yards and meant for a family park in Bahadur Yar Jang Cooperative Housing Society had been divided into three plots and only a small portion of the plot left for the park. The other two plots were allotted and a huge building, known as Al-Bari Towers, was built.

The court had ruled that none of the parties create any third party interest.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2021