Officers who approved Nasla Tower construction booked
Workers use heavy machinery to demolish Nasla Tower on Supre Court orders. PHOTO: Jalal Qureshi/Express/FILE
Police officials said on Tuesday that a case has been registered against the government officers who approved the building plans of Nasla Tower.
During the hearing of the Nasla Tower case at the Supreme Court Karachi Registry on Monday, Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmad had directed DIG of East district to register a case against the officers of the concerned agencies who had approved the Nasla Tower Building Plan.
The FIR registered at Ferozabad police station nominated officers of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), Sindhi Muslim Cooperative Housing Society (SCHS), and other relevant departments for allowing illegal construction of Nasla Tower.
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Officials of the Ferozabad police station said that case No 2021/1043 under Criminal Sections of 161,167, 218, 408, 409, 420, 34/447 has been registered in Firozabad Police Station on the official complaint against the officials and concerned agencies involved in the allotment, construction, and regularisation of the mapping of Nasla Tower while implementing the previous day.
According to police, they have asked for names of the culprits from the SBCA and the SMCHS and a police team also visited the former's offices in this regard. SP Investigation East Altaf Hussain said police have started an investigation in the case after the registration of the FIR.
He added that police teams visited the offices of the SBCA and SCHS and asked for the names of the officers who approved the building plan. The registration of the case came a day after the Supreme Court ordered the police to file a case against those who approved the building plan of the multi-storey residential building.
During a hearing on December 27, the SC bench said a departmental action must be initiated against the responsible officers along with the registration of criminal cases against them by the anti-corruption department.
The police officers involved in the case also needed to be prosecuted, the SC bench had said. It had directed the DIG East to submit the report on the proceedings against the said officers at the next hearing.
The court had also ordered the anti-corruption department to book the director-general of the SBCA on corruption charges. As per a report submitted to the court, it had said the SCBA DG asked for bribes from the contractor. The court ordered the anticorruption DG to start an investigation and submit a report to the court.