SC orders CAA, Sindh Rangers to remove blockades

Justice Gulzar Ahmed asks CBC about plans for the dilapidated Sea Breeze Plaza

KARACHI: In a major development relating to the clean-up operation under way in Karachi, Justice Gulzar Ahmed of the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday ordered the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to remove encroachments from areas under its jurisdiction.

The same court reiterated its orders from a day earlier to the Sindh Rangers to remove their pickets from public parks and any obstacles they may have placed on major thoroughfares, such as Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road. The SC also sought a report from Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) regarding the withered condition of Sea Breeze Plaza and the legal value of Hyatt Regency.



Justice Ahmed ordered all the institutions to continue the anti-encroachment drive without any discrimination. He remarked that the CAA should point out encroachments in its territorial limits themselves and take steps to clear them on their own.

The SC also ordered to keep the coastal belt available for recreational activities for the public. Justice Ahmed remarked that buildings that restrict public access to the sea should not be constructed. He also ordered the restoration of big parks in the city.

Justice Ahmed inquired about the plans for the dilapidated Sea Breeze Plaza and if they would restore it or demolish it. He sought report about the condition of the plaza from CBC.

Pakistan Coast Guards submitted a report, according to which, obstacles have been removed outside their premises.

Sindh Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Karachi Police chief AIG Ameer Sheikh, Karachi Development Authority Director-General (DG) Sami Siddiqi, Sindh Building Control Authority DG Iftikhar Qaimkhani, Municipal Commissioner Dr Saifur Rehman and CBC officials attended the hearing at the SC's Karachi Registry.

Teaching hospitals

In a separate case, the SC rejected the appeal by the medical superintendent of Larkana Civil Hospital against the Sindh High Court's orders to hand over control of the teaching hospitals to the vice-chancellor of the respective medical university.

A three-member bench, headed by Justice Mushir Alam and comprising Justice Muneeb Akhtar and Justice Faisal Arab, rejected the review appeal filed by the MS. Justice Alam questioned if the Sindh government had already resolved the issues of all hospitals?

Justice Akhtar, in his remarks, asked the petitioner if he wanted the teaching hospitals' administration not to be handed over to medical universities. "Do you know what will be the standard of doctors produced directly by the teaching hospitals?" asked Justice Akhtar.

Earlier, the plaintiff's lawyer argued that the SHC had ordered to give control of the teaching hospitals to the medical universities. "How can the vice chancellor run all the matters? The administration of teaching hospitals falls under the ambit of the health secretary directly," he said.

Murder case

The same bench sought comments from the parties related to the appeal against the release of the main accused in the murder case of a former civil judge's son.

Former senior civil judge Wafa Nawaz argued that his son, Yasir, was brutally murdered. "The accused, who killed my son, created a drama of an accident but later, the reality got exposed," he claimed.



A subordinate court had awarded Jamshed Akhter life imprisonment, while Nusrat Ali, Mumtaz Ali and others were awarded seven years imprisonment each. Other persons accused in the case, identified as Asad Ali, Muhammad Ayaz, Ali Abbas and Sajid Ali were released. Nawaz pleaded that the release orders be annulled and the accused be awarded the maximum possible sentence.

Yasir Nawaz was murdered at Teen Mir Wah in June 2004. The post mortem was carried by exhuming the dead body. On Tuesday, the SC accepted the appeal for hearing and sought arguments from the parties. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2018.