KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the provincial authorities to continue the ongoing operation against encroachments in the provincial capital and asked the chief secretary to monitor the drive.

A three-judge bench of the apex court headed by Justice Mushir Alam also ordered the removal of debris from Bagh Ibne Qasim in Clifton and other parts of the city and directed the chief secretary to ensure proper coordination and cooperation among the departments concerned.

The bench, also comprising Justices Faisal Arab and Ijaz Ul Ahsan, was hearing two identical petitions at the Supreme Court’s Karachi Registry regarding illegal constructions.

It observed that nobody would be allowed to create hurdles in the way of the operation and removal of debris.

SBCA admonished

Justice Alam said that it was the responsibility of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) to maintain the city “in its original status”, but the SBCA did not fulfil its duty.

On Jan 24, a two-judge bench of the SC headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed had taken up the same matter and sought a comprehensive report from the provincial authorities regarding a solution to encroachments and illegal constructions and to restore the provincial capital to its past glory.

SBCA told to maintain the city’s original status

When both the petitions came up for hearing before the three-judge bench on Tuesday, Sindh Advocate General Salman Talibuddin contended that they were seeking the help of experts to bring back the city to its past glory and a conference in that regard had also been held.

He maintained that if action was taken without proper planning, it might lead to a human tragedy and requested for more time for the compliance of the report. The SBCA sought eight weeks’ time.

Justice Alam observed that he would request the chief justice to refer the matter to the same bench which had heard it previously.

Review plea

The same bench on Tuesday also issued notices to the Sindh advocate general and others on a review petition against an earlier order about the removal of commercial activities from cantonment lands.

On Jan 24, the two-judge bench had also issued directives for the removal of commercial activities from military land, particularly the Global Marquees, on the emergency military medical supplies land and adjacent wedding halls and grand convention hall on Korangi Road near the FTC building and all cantonment lands, ruling that the land only be used for cantonment purposes and their use must be restored.

The Global Marquees management, through senior lawyer Rasheed A. Razvi, moved a petition and requested the court to review its earlier order.

He submitted that the order to demolish the wedding halls was passed without hearing the petitioner.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2019