Pending work: Land for inter-city bus terminal to be handed over to city govt
SHC bench expresses displeasure over reports of encroachments on the land.
This order was passed by a bench of the Sindh High Court on Wednesday while hearing a petition filed by a public-interest litigant, Advocate Islam Hussain. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE
KARACHI:
The chief secretary has been directed to ensure that the physical possession of the land, which was intended to be used for the establishment of a modern inter-city bus terminal outside the city, is handed over to the city government within three weeks.
This order was passed by a bench of the Sindh High Court on Wednesday while hearing a petition filed by a public-interest litigant, Advocate Islam Hussain.
SHC Chief Justice Mushir Alam, who headed the bench, also ordered the chief secretary, secretaries of the local government department and the board of revenue to resolve the hurdles in executing the bus terminal project. The Sindh government had earlier provided 100 acres in Gadap town to the then City District Government Karachi for an inter-city bus terminal, but the same has been encroached upon.
Hussain’s petition had asked that the bus terminal be shifted from the city to resolve the problem of traffic gridlocks which take place mostly in the downtown localities.
Since 2004, the court has been passing orders and directions to the authorities of the provincial as well as the local governments to establish a new inter-city bus terminal outside the city limits to resolve the problem.
On Wednesday, the two-judge bench noted with dismay that there were no efforts on part of the Sindh government and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation to resolve the long-standing issue. The lawyer appearing for the cantonment board, HK Rana, was not in court for the hearing
The judges regretted that the authorities had allowed encroachments upon the land earmarked for the new inter-city bus terminal, noting that the administration was culpable in favouring the encroachers and violators of the law. The bench remarked that no measures were being taken by the concerned authorities to check the encroachments on the public property - instead, money was being doled out for the project which was being delayed on one pretext or the other.
The bench directed the chief secretary, local government secretary and Board of Revenue secretary to sit together and decide once and for all the mechanism of the project. It was also decided that for the time being, possession of the land should be handed over to the city government and the issue of departmental funding may be resolved as delay in the project was causing colossal loss to the public and the government.
The chief secretary was also ordered to take notice of the encroachments on the land which was earlier reserved for building an inter-city bus terminal.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2013.
The chief secretary has been directed to ensure that the physical possession of the land, which was intended to be used for the establishment of a modern inter-city bus terminal outside the city, is handed over to the city government within three weeks.
This order was passed by a bench of the Sindh High Court on Wednesday while hearing a petition filed by a public-interest litigant, Advocate Islam Hussain.
SHC Chief Justice Mushir Alam, who headed the bench, also ordered the chief secretary, secretaries of the local government department and the board of revenue to resolve the hurdles in executing the bus terminal project. The Sindh government had earlier provided 100 acres in Gadap town to the then City District Government Karachi for an inter-city bus terminal, but the same has been encroached upon.
Hussain’s petition had asked that the bus terminal be shifted from the city to resolve the problem of traffic gridlocks which take place mostly in the downtown localities.
Since 2004, the court has been passing orders and directions to the authorities of the provincial as well as the local governments to establish a new inter-city bus terminal outside the city limits to resolve the problem.
On Wednesday, the two-judge bench noted with dismay that there were no efforts on part of the Sindh government and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation to resolve the long-standing issue. The lawyer appearing for the cantonment board, HK Rana, was not in court for the hearing
The judges regretted that the authorities had allowed encroachments upon the land earmarked for the new inter-city bus terminal, noting that the administration was culpable in favouring the encroachers and violators of the law. The bench remarked that no measures were being taken by the concerned authorities to check the encroachments on the public property - instead, money was being doled out for the project which was being delayed on one pretext or the other.
The bench directed the chief secretary, local government secretary and Board of Revenue secretary to sit together and decide once and for all the mechanism of the project. It was also decided that for the time being, possession of the land should be handed over to the city government and the issue of departmental funding may be resolved as delay in the project was causing colossal loss to the public and the government.
The chief secretary was also ordered to take notice of the encroachments on the land which was earlier reserved for building an inter-city bus terminal.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2013.