Dreamworld takes MDA to court over free membership ‘demands’
The resort says the DG and his family members wanted a free ticket.
KARACHI:
One of Karachi’s largest recreational parks, Dreamworld, is engaged in a court battle with the Malir Development Authority (MDA), which it alleges blackmailed and harassed it so that its director and his family were made members for free.
The suit, which has been pending adjudication since 2008, was adjourned till March 20 by Justice Munib Akhtar of the Sindh High Court on Thursday with the consent of both sides.
Dreamworld has taken the MDA, the director of its anti-encroachment cell and the Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA and now the Sindh Building Control Authority) to court.
Dreamworld has maintained that since its doors opened, MDA officials have been blackmailing it and continuously harassing it on one pretext or another in order to push for its director general and his family members to be made members without any fee.
To press for their demands, they lodged a FIR, alleging that the company had encroached on the MDA’s land. The FIR was later declared “c” class by a judicial magistrate.
The company also maintains that later, as a result of the coercion, it was forced to make certain people recommended by the MDA DG members free of charge, including an excise and taxation officer and a lawyer practising on the income tax side. But despite making all these adjustments and compromises, on December 22, 2008, the MDA issued it a letter, threatening to demolish Dreamworld’s boundary wall. The resort company then filed an instant suit for declaration and a permanent injunction against the demolition of the boundary wall that wraps around the 144-acre recreation project that caters to 12,000 members.
Dreamworld appealed to the court to declare that once the case was closed by the judicial magistrate, further action by the MDA was in double jeopardy, illegal and in violation of Article 3 and fundamental rights guaranteed under the constitution of the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 18th, 2012.
One of Karachi’s largest recreational parks, Dreamworld, is engaged in a court battle with the Malir Development Authority (MDA), which it alleges blackmailed and harassed it so that its director and his family were made members for free.
The suit, which has been pending adjudication since 2008, was adjourned till March 20 by Justice Munib Akhtar of the Sindh High Court on Thursday with the consent of both sides.
Dreamworld has taken the MDA, the director of its anti-encroachment cell and the Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA and now the Sindh Building Control Authority) to court.
Dreamworld has maintained that since its doors opened, MDA officials have been blackmailing it and continuously harassing it on one pretext or another in order to push for its director general and his family members to be made members without any fee.
To press for their demands, they lodged a FIR, alleging that the company had encroached on the MDA’s land. The FIR was later declared “c” class by a judicial magistrate.
The company also maintains that later, as a result of the coercion, it was forced to make certain people recommended by the MDA DG members free of charge, including an excise and taxation officer and a lawyer practising on the income tax side. But despite making all these adjustments and compromises, on December 22, 2008, the MDA issued it a letter, threatening to demolish Dreamworld’s boundary wall. The resort company then filed an instant suit for declaration and a permanent injunction against the demolition of the boundary wall that wraps around the 144-acre recreation project that caters to 12,000 members.
Dreamworld appealed to the court to declare that once the case was closed by the judicial magistrate, further action by the MDA was in double jeopardy, illegal and in violation of Article 3 and fundamental rights guaranteed under the constitution of the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 18th, 2012.