SHC seeks details of Bagh Ibne Qasim agreement

Provincial govt has signed agreement with real estate giant, allowing ‘adoption’ of city’s iconic park

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed on Friday the law officers for the provincial government and Bahria Town to submit details of the agreement signed between them regarding 'adoption' of the city's iconic Bagh Ibne Qasim to the real estate firm for 10 years.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Junaid Ghaffar, sought such agreement by Tuesday on a petition filed by a citizen, Ahmed Zameer.

The bench was hearing a second petition challenging the handing over of the city's iconic public park to the private real estate firm for 10 years.



The same bench had, on April 4, suspended the notification of handing over the public to Bahria Town on a petition filed by the MQM-Pakistan leader and mayor of Karachi, Wasim Akhtar, which got the Pakistan Peoples Party-led provincial government's move temporarily blocked.

The petitioner, Ahmed Zameer, argued that the local government secretary had signed an agreement dated March 30 with Bahria Town, handing over the public park to it for a period of 10 years. He argued that the agreement in question was a violation of the Article 140-A of the Constitution.

Therefore, he pleaded that the court direct the official and private respondents to produce the agreement in the court for the judges’ perusal. He also pleaded that the agreement in question be declared a violation of Article 140-A and, therefore, suspend the same.



After hearing the initial arguments, the bench issued notices to the local government secretary, chief secretary, Bahria Town and others. It also directed the lawyers representing the provincial government and Bahria Town to submit the details of the agreement in question. The matter was adjourned for two weeks.

In his plea, Mayor Akhtar had argued that it is the responsibility of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation to transfer the functions of controlling the land owned by it, according to Part-I of Schedule-II of the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013.

Further referring to Part-II in Schedule-II of the Act (Item No 52), he contended that insofar as the parks and gardens were concerned, such powers are exclusively vested in the metropolitan corporation to maintain and create any recreation for the convenience of the general public.



According to the mayor, the agreement was a 'commercial' arrangement, whereby they have settled certain terms and conditions. Though the management of the park is being handed over to the private builder, the government will still be allocating budgets while paying the salaries of staff.

He had also referred to a judgment passed by the Supreme Court in a case relating to a portion of Bagh Ibne Qasim, wherein commercial activity was initiated and the apex court had concluded that 'no commercial activity could be carried [out] on an amenity plot'.

Suspending the operation of the notification till April 18, the SHC bench sought comments from the official and private respondents.