Illegal building: Court calls cantonment officer to explain defiance

The case relates to a multi-storey structure in Punjab Colony.

KARACHI: The executive officer of the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) has been called to court to explain the agency’s failure to demolish an illegally constructed building.

The Sindh High Court was hearing the petition filed by Muhammad Sarfaraz on Tuesday against the owner of a plot near his residence in Punjab Colony. He alleged that the owner had encroached government land and was building a multiple-storey structure at the site without the approval of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA).

The building control authority has only published a public notice in newspapers, warning people from buying residential or commercial unit in the unapproved building. The SBCA and the cantonment board remain unmoved despite notices, the petitioner submitted. At the previous hearing, the CBC had conceded that the plot owner has constructed the building despite a restraining order and he prevented it from being demolished as well. The bench then ordered the relevant SSP to provide the cantonment officials security to carry out the court order.

On Tuesday, the bench noted that neither was the August 9 order followed nor was any explanation was given by cantonment’s executive officer.

Justices Maqbool Baqar and Niamatullah Phulpoto ordered the respondent to appear in court on October 2 with a written statement on why its order was not followed.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2012.