SHC questions KMC for delay in hospital for lawyers
Court questions KMC's reluctance in allowing Sindh Bar Council to establish a hospital for its members.
KARACHI:
The Sindh High Court questioned on Thursday the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s (KMC) reluctance in allowing the Sindh Bar Council (SBC) to establish a hospital for its members on an amenity plot in Clifton.
The bar council had taken the city government to court for not permitting the construction of the health facility on a 1,233-square-yards plot, bearing number ST-33, in Clifton Block 1. The now-defunct Karachi Development Authority’s directorate of land management had allotted the plot to the bar.
“Since 2009, the council is requesting the city government to grant [us] permission to establish and operate the hospital to provide better health facilities to practising lawyers and their families,” stated SBC construction committee chairperson Abdul Haleem Siddiqui.
According to the Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations of 2002, an amenity plot could only be used for the purpose it was earmarked and not for any other purpose. Land reserved for parks, colleges, schools, roads, libraries, gardens, graveyards, community centres and mosques, among other entities all qualify as amenity plots.
However, the petitioner argued that the construction of the hospital will not change the status of the land. KMC’s law officer, Najamuddin Siddiqui, requested the court to grant him additional time to file comments. The bench, headed by Chief Justice Mushir Alam, obliged, and adjourned the hearing till February 1, 2013.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 21st, 2012.
The Sindh High Court questioned on Thursday the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation’s (KMC) reluctance in allowing the Sindh Bar Council (SBC) to establish a hospital for its members on an amenity plot in Clifton.
The bar council had taken the city government to court for not permitting the construction of the health facility on a 1,233-square-yards plot, bearing number ST-33, in Clifton Block 1. The now-defunct Karachi Development Authority’s directorate of land management had allotted the plot to the bar.
“Since 2009, the council is requesting the city government to grant [us] permission to establish and operate the hospital to provide better health facilities to practising lawyers and their families,” stated SBC construction committee chairperson Abdul Haleem Siddiqui.
According to the Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations of 2002, an amenity plot could only be used for the purpose it was earmarked and not for any other purpose. Land reserved for parks, colleges, schools, roads, libraries, gardens, graveyards, community centres and mosques, among other entities all qualify as amenity plots.
However, the petitioner argued that the construction of the hospital will not change the status of the land. KMC’s law officer, Najamuddin Siddiqui, requested the court to grant him additional time to file comments. The bench, headed by Chief Justice Mushir Alam, obliged, and adjourned the hearing till February 1, 2013.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 21st, 2012.