Land-grabbing: Court directs IGP, SBCA to devise strategy to protect amenity plots

It was alleged that two amenity plots had been encroached in connivance with the building authority.

KARACHI: With the land-grabbers’ mafia sparing hardly any amenity properties in the metropolis, the Sindh High Court (SHC) has ordered the Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Sindh Building Control Authority’s controller of buildings to devise a strategy to protect the places earmarked for recreational activities.

SHC Chief Justice Mushir Alam who headed the bench hearing a non-profit organisation’s plea for removal of illegal encroachments from two amenity plots, passed this order on Tuesday.

Naumania Welfare Trust had approached the court against the building control authority and police officials for failing to save the amenity plots from conversion to residential and commercial purposes which was allegedly in violation of buildings laws.

The petitioner claimed that some private persons, in collusion with the Sindh Building Control Authority, were changing the status of the plots, ST-41 and 42, earmarked for a park and playground in Scheme 36 of Gulistan-e-Jauhar.

“The illegal conversion of lands, reserved for recreational purposes, is a violation of the relevant laws, and it would deprive the residents of the area of recreational opportunities,” the petitioner argued.

On one of the previous hearings, the SHC had appointed its Nazir (an official) to carry out physical inspections of the lands in question to ascertain the factual position there.

In his report, the Nazir confirmed that the amenity plots were under illegal occupation and structures were being raised.

The bench ordered the SBCA’s controller of buildings to take action against the responsible field Inspector and other officials who had allowed the unauthorised and illegal constructions to be raised. A report on action was ordered to be submitted in the court within 15 days.

The judges also directed the Karachi commissioner to take action against those officers who were responsible to protect public properties from being encroached and why they had allowed such encroachments which was causing innumerable difficulties for other law enforcing agencies to remove.

“The Controller of Buildings, SBCA and the provincial IGP should convene a meeting jointly to take action against such encroachments. Moreover, a concrete plan of action should be prepared and executed for the restoration of amenity plots,” ordered the chief justice.

The bench will take up the matter again on August 20 to see what progress has been made by the relevant authorities in this regard.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 15^th, 2013.