Police to help Lines Area project director get rid of illegal billboards

Court gives orders on petition seeking contempt proceedings

KARACHI: The police will help the director of a Lines Area project remove unauthorised signboards from the neighbourhood, the Sindh High Court ordered on Thursday.

Headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, the division bench issued these directives while hearing an application seeking contempt proceedings against Karachi Metropolitan Corporation's (KMC) former administrator Rauf Akhtar Farooqui, Lines Area project director Farid Ahmed Yousfani and others for allegedly failing to comply with the court's earlier orders to remove unauthorised signboards.

Syed Agha Attaullah Shah, the chairperson of Rah-e-Raast Trust, had moved the court seeking directions for the respondents to stop illegal conversion of residential plots into commercial ones, and removing giant billboards installed on top of houses.

The petitioner said he resides in Gulshan-e-Zahoor Sector 8-A adjacent to FTC Bridge, where large commercial hoardings are being installed on top of houses, which was a violation of the building laws. Meanwhile, residential properties were also illegally being converted into commercial ones. On Thursday, Shah told the judges that the court had ordered the respondents to stop illegal land conversions and remove billboards but these directives have yet to be complied with. The court had also ordered them to submit a compliance report within eight weeks.

On the other hand, Yousfani informed that efforts were made to remove giant signboards in compliance with the court orders. However, they had to postpone action in the wake of the law and order situation as the police had not entertained their requests for assistance, he said. The judges issued notices to the respondents to file compliance reports by the next hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2016.