HYDERABAD: A division bench of Sindh High Court’s Hyderabad circuit comprising Justice Nadeem Akhtar and Justice Arshad Hussain Khan on Thursday grilled the Hyderabad municipal commissioner and Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) regional director over their inaction resulting in defacement of the city.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by Agha Nazimuddin and 11 residents of Qasimabad regarding encroachment in their area. The petition has been clubbed together with some other identical ones.

Justice Akhtar grilled Municipal Commissioner Mohammad Ali Sheikh and SBCA regional director Naveed Asim. Mr Sheikh submitted in court that the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC) levies rent on generators kept on public space in line with a local government notification. The bench also read the notification and then Justice Akhtar dropped a hint that the very notification would be struck off as its language allowed “generators [to be placed] on open public spaces”.

Initially, the HMC official stated that “generators are kept on the edge of premises of private parties including banks” but when Justice Akhtar warned that he could be remanded in jail custody if he made a misleading statement, he quickly retracted his statement and said “generators are kept on public spaces”. The judge said: “If any single generator is kept on public space, you will be in jail”. He said the court was compelled to seek assistance of deputy commissioner as the latter was worthy of speaking to. “You [HMC] perhaps become orphan if we don’t provide DC’s assistance,” the judge observed.

DC Fuad Soomro said that ground+10 buildings were allowed to be raised on Wadhu Wah Road which was otherwise a freshwater channel and 70ft-wide road. He pointed out that the high court’s Sukkur bench had passed a directive regarding construction of buildings and the provincial chief secretary then put a moratorium on them mentioning that unless system was augmented, ground+ four buildings be allowed.

Alluding to the mushroom growth of dhabas, pyala hotels etc outside residential premises, the DC stated that it was SBCA’s function to see how residential areas were being used for these businesses across the city but SBCA looked the other way.

SBCA official Naveed Asim stated that his institution took action within its domain. The court was clearly upset over his replies and inquired whether governing body of a department got the authority to override rules. The bench observed that plaza, without augmenting infrastructure, has been built on a space enough for a household.

The official was asked to enlist properties where encroachments were removed and make sure they should not recur.

The bench reminded the respondents that [certain] recommendations of the Hyderabad DC were now “rule and order of court”. Justice Akhtar made it clear that the space between the points where road ends and property’s line starts is public space; so nobody should be mistaken.

During the deliberations, the court wondered why Hyderabad was getting lesser share when compared with other districts. “Don’t people of the city deserve better environment as they pay more tax,” he asked finance secretary Hassan Naqvi.

Mr Naqvi stated that shares were distributed under the Provincial Finance Commission Award and an interim award was given only in 2016.

Regarding one of the DC’s proposals for provision of Rs1.733bn to the city, he said the amount could not be released in one go as procedural requirements were there and a PC-I had to be vetted by the provincial planning and development board.

“You [the secretary] are mentioning routine exercise but it is a kind of emergency. You should tell us how can you expedite it,” Justice Akhtar said.

Mr Naqvi explained capacity of executive agency’s matters in utilising finances and proposed that works against Rs1.733bn should be bifurcated considering preference.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2021