KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has directed the provincial government to set up one police station each in every district of Karachi and other cities for the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) so that it can take legal action against illegal construction.

A division bench of the SHC comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Mohammad Abdur Rahman observed that the process of registration of an FIR regarding illegal construction was not effective because the SBCA had only one police station for Karachi while no such facility had been established in any other city of the province.

The court directed the secretaries of the local government, law and home departments to establish additional police stations for the SBCA in each district of Karachi as well as in other cities of Sindh so that the authority could directly register a case about illegal constructions.

The court was hearing the issue of illegal construction in the metropolis. In compliance with its earlier order regarding submission of the record of SBCA funds and other details during the past five years, the finance and local government departments as well as the authority had filed reports and statements.

SHC gives 45 days to building authority to update its website for public; 64,000 building plans approved since 2010, court told

SBCA Director General Ishaq Khuhro informed the bench that the authority had approved 64,000 building plans in Karachi since 2010 and the record of all approved plans was also updated on the website of the authority.

He submitted that it was an autonomous body and the provincial government did not provide it any funding. He said that the SBCA held a cash balance of around Rs15 billion, which had been accumulated over the years.

The bench deplored that despite having vast resources at its disposal, numerous cases were being listed in court on a daily basis regarding illegal and unauthorised construction.

“A large number of illegal constructions, which are the subject matter of much litigation in this court, indicate that the SBCA is clearly failing in their duty,” it added.

Under the law, the bench noted that the K-Electric and other utility companies were also not permitted to provide any electricity or other connections to any building raised without a SBCA approved plan.

The bench observed that a smart application was available on the website of the SBCA, but the information on the app was limited. It was also very difficult to access the information due to downloading issues, it added.

“The data about approved constructions had been listed against the criteria of date of approval of construction which made searching these approvals incredibly cumbersome,” the bench said, adding that the website contained no data of the plots where buildings had been constructed without the permission of the SBCA.

The bench directed the SBCA to ensure that detailed information about construction, ownership of plots and names of the projects, schemes and developers as well as exact nature of the construction — residential, commercial, etc, — would be available on its website and the app for public within 45 days.

There must be an option for payment of fees online and a news section to better inform the people about law, the bench said.

It also ordered the SBCA to sign a memorandum of understanding utility agencies to ensure that they could access such information at the time of registering a document or providing utility connections.

The bench also deplored that information available on the website and app of the SBCA was pertaining to Karachi only and no attention at all was being given to illegal construction in other cities of the province.

The SHC also directed the Karachi mayor, directors general of the Karachi Development Authority (KDA), Malir Development Authority (MDA), Lyari Development Authority (LDA), the Master Plan Authority, board of revenue, land utilisation department, all commissioners, deputy commissioners and other officials concerned to provide to the SBCA details of all layout plans, master plans and survey plans of plots allotted in their respective jurisdictions.

It also directed the DG-SBCA to ensure that all the facilities as mandated under the building and town planning regulations must be available and updated as per international standards in all commercial and public buildings for differently-able persons.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2024