SHC summons KBCA chief controller

Court calls building authority’s affairs ‘sheer mismanagement’.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) declared on Thursday that the affairs of the Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) are “nothing but sheer mismanagement”. The SHC division bench directed the KBCA Chief Controller of Buildings (CCOB) to appear in person before the court on February 2 at 11 am.

The bench, comprising Justice Musheer Alam and Justice Syed Zakir Hussain, heard a constitutional petition filed in 2008 by residents of Improvement Scheme, Allama Iqbal Town, North Nazimabad. The petitioners challenged the encroachment of an amenity plot earmarked for car parking and 12 pedestrian ways for residents where a commercial complex was being built.

The bench noted that law officers appear and note the dates and directions issued by the courts but apparently fail to convey the directions to the CCOB “causing grave annoyance and delay in the matter”. The bench ordered the CCOB to present himself before the court and explain his position.

In another petition pertaining to an allegedly illegal structure obstructing air to other residents of a building in Saddar Town, the same bench censured the KBCA counsel for not being aware of the proceedings that had already taken place in court. “This not only causes delay but causes annoyance and inconvenience to the court”, the bench said.

Taking note of KBCA’s failure to implement the earlier orders, the bench said that if a report was not filed by the next date of hearing, action will be taken against the highest authority in KBCA. The hearing was adjourned to a date to be fixed later by the office of the court.

Published in Express Tribune, January 14^th,  2011.