Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday ordered the provincial and city authorities to continue the operations against encroachment in the metropolis and directed Chief Secretary Sindh to supervise this operation. At Karachi Registry, the SC's bench headed by Justice Mushir Alam directed that Sindh Chief Secretary to ensure cooperation and consultation among the relevant departments for proper execution of anti-encroachment drive.
Mayor Karachi Wasim Akthar, Director General Sindh Building Control Authority (SCBA) Iftikhar Qaimkhani and others officials of city and provincial governments attended the hearing. The court ordered to remove all the encroachments from the city including from Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim. The bench head remarked that it is our dream to restore the original shape of Karachi and warned that no institute should interfere in the anti-encroachment drive.
Justice Musheer Alam stated that restaurants and businesses were established on small plots and said that abundance of encroachments had left no place for walking on streets. The bench also showed dissatisfaction over the working of Sindh Building Control Authority (SCBA) and remarked that it didn't perform its functions to restore the original shape of the city.
The Advocate General Sindh told the court that the provincial government is hiring the services of experts for restoration of lost shape of the city. A conference was organized at the start of January this year to solicit the views of experts in this regard, he informed the court.
The top provincial attorney submitted before the court that a grave human tragedy could have taken place if the anti-encroachment drive was not executed with proper planning.
The Advocate General Sindh requested the court to grant the time for proper planning to carry out the drive against encroachment. The SCBA also sought eight-week timeframe for removal of encroachment. Top court issued notices to Advocate General Sindh and others on the review petition of a marriage hall established at military land near Kalapul in Karachi.
The SC' bench headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed had issued orders for demolishing this marriage hall and convention center. Rasheed A Rizvi, lawyer for marriage hall owner, filed the review petition against the decision of Justice Gulzar-led bench and contended that the orders were issued without listening the management of marriage hall. Rizvi said that he would satisfy the court that his client should also be heard.
Justice Musheer Alam said that the court would not issue any order for the time being on the review petition and stated that issued directives to Advocate General Sindh and others in this regard. Justice Musheer Alam said that he would recommend to the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) to refer the case to the bench concerned, which issued the orders.