Encroachments: SC gives city a month to clear parks

SC gives CDGK one month to remove unauthorised constructions from all public parks.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court has given the City District Government of Karachi one month to remove unauthorised constructions from all public parks.

On Monday, a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Mohammad Sair Ali and Justice Ghulam Rabbani heard the petition, filed by the former nazim of Karachi, Niamatullah Khan, of the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Khan had prayed the apex court to free amenity plots from squatters and encroachers as the public spaces had been taken over by activists of political parties and the influential land mafia.

Farrukh Naseem placed on the record a DVD and CD of the illegal buildings in parks and told the SC that work to remove the encroachments continued. So far, the city has been able to remove 70 per cent of encroachments but it needs one month to completely clear the parks, he said.

However, the former nazim’s lawyer vehemently opposed this version of the developments. He said that the city government had, contrary to the orders of the court passed at the last hearing, wanted to demolish madrassas in order to create a law and order situation. Naseem replied that the CDGK has not demolished even a single mosque, madrassa or place of worship so far.

The court directed the former nazim’s counsel to identify areas where mosques or any place of worship had been demolished and supply this information to the CDGK.

The court adjourned the case till March 22.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 8^th, 2011.