No more legalising under ‘amnesty’, orders court

Sindh Building Control Authority stopped from regularising unlawful constructions.

KARACHI: The Sindh Building Control Authority has been told to immediately stop legalising unlawful constructions in Karachi under its “amnesty scheme” that was introduced last year.

The Sindh High Court has ordered stopping the process until the legality of the amnesty itself is decided by the court.

A non-governmental organisation, Check and Watch Environmental Foundation, had challenged the construction of a residential building in Jamshed Town of Karachi. The petitioner submitted that the owner, Mustafa, of plots No. E-446 and E-447 in Khudadad Colony was building a residential complex with a basement and ground plus two upper floors. Under the plan approved for the building, only a basement and ground plus one could be raised.

The plaintiff contended that the construction was carried out in violation of rules prescribed in the Sindh Building Control Ordinance, 1979. Thus, it would expose the residents in the neighbourhood to various civic problems.

On Thursday, a division bench headed by Justice Maqbool Baqir took up the case.

The building watchdog’s Jamshed Town director filed his report, confirming violations in the construction at the project site. “In terms of the amnesty scheme announced in November 2011 it may be permissible to regularise such construction,” the officer said, however.

The amnesty scheme has already been suspended by the high court through an order passed on another petition, the petitioner’s lawyer Sara Kanwal pointed out.

After hearing their arguments, the court restrained the building control authority from legalising any further constructions until the court decides the legality of the amnesty scheme on similar petitions.

“We have on several petitions already observed that the amnesty scheme, prima facie, seems to be illegal and in violation of law, and its propriety and legality is pending judicial scrutiny,” the judges stated in their observation.

The court also ordered that the Sindh Building Control Authority director general should ensure strict compliance of the stay order.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 9^th, 2012.