Illegal constructions in Sindh irk apex court

SC summons provincial chief secretary to explain SBCA's functioning


Our Correspondent July 15, 2017
The bench members came down hard on the SBCA authorities for failing to check the increasing illegal and unauthorised constructions in the metropolis. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) summoned on Friday the provincial chief secretary over failure of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) to act against the construction of high-rise buildings without any check in the city.

A two-judge bench, comprising justices Gulzar Ahmed and Maqbool Baqar, also issued notices to the SBCA officials over the demolition of unauthorised upper floors of a building belonging to the Evacuee Trust Property Board in Lyari. The case was heard at the SC's Karachi Registry Branch.

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The bench members came down hard on the SBCA authorities for failing to check the increasing illegal and unauthorised constructions in the metropolis.

Justice Baqar noted that the growing number of high-rise buildings has destroyed the city. Unchecked growth of high-rises is sheer cruelty to the city, which must be stopped now, he said.

Justice Ahmed observed that illegal constructions had become a common phenomenon all over the city, where anyone constructs a building without any checks or balances.

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The bench inquired from the provincial law officer what the Sindh government was doing about the matter. They told the SBCA officers to pay a visit to localities such as Delhi Colony, Baloch Colony and Khalid Bin Waleed Road to get an idea of the situation.

The apex court's bench observed that the SBCA had destroyed the whole city. It further observed that SBCA had been redundant and failed to perform its functions.

The Lyari SP said that there were a number of high-rise buildings that had been built illegally in the Lyari neighbourhood.

The judges told the provincial law officer that if the government wanted the regulatory body for buildings to function, it needed to be completely overhauled.

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Justice Ahmed noted that the SBCA officers turned a blind eye when buildings were being constructed illegally and made money instead.

The bench issued a notice to the authority's concerned officers to provide an explanation of how unauthorised upper floors were allowed to be built on the property of the Evacuee Trust Property Board and under what law the floors were later demolished.

Meanwhile, the judges also issued a notice to the provincial chief secretary to appear in court and explain the inaction on the part of the SBCA authorities against the growing number of unauthorised and illegal buildings, including high-rises. The secretary will also submit a report in this regard by the next date of hearing.

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