SC orders immediate demolition of all illegal marriage halls in Karachi

Three-member bench heard the petition at SC's Karachi Registry

KARACHI:

The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday ordered immediate demolition of all illegal marriage halls in Karachi.

A three-member bench of the SC, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed, heard various petitions related to marriage halls at the apex court’s Karachi Registry.

Advocate Anwar Mansoor Khan, counsel for Korangi Marriage Halls Association, prayed that the marriage halls of Korangi were located on a commercial strip and carry legal status.

“The SBCA (Sindh Building Control Authority) should be stopped from demolishing the wedding halls. People do not like to live right on the roadside, that is why the strip has been commercialized,” the counsel prayed.

The CJP remarked that was an assumption and it does not mean that everything should be commercialized. SBCA had no authority to do so, the chief justice added.

Addressing the Karachi commissioner, the chief justice said that marriage halls were being constructed all over Karachi. “Most of the marriage halls were built on welfare plots. Go and demolish illegal marriage halls.”

Read more: Why Karachi needs pro-resettlement, not anti-encroachment housing policies

Regarding encroachments around Goth Nalla in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block 4, the petitioner prayed that leased houses had been demolished whereas illegal houses still stood in the are.

Expressing displeasure, the CJP referred to the Karachi commissioner and asked where would the people go and were they provided with an alternative.

On this, the commissioner replied that alternates arrangements would be made as soon as the provincial government’s compensation policy was formulated.