According to Barrister Farogh Naseem, representing the now defunct City District Government Karachi (CDGK), an agreement was signed between CDGK and the management of the private university that allowed the varsity to set up on this land. There is no other title document available for this land, he added. The university is named after the late father of Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain.
The petitioner, Fazal Haq Khan, had written a letter to the SHC chief justice in 2010 and told him that land belonging to two amenity plots in Federal B Area blocks 6 and 16 has illegally been converted and the university has been built there. Commercial construction cannot be raised on land earmarked for amenity purposes, he said. The chief justice had converted the letter into a constitutional petition for further proceedings.
On Friday, Naseem said that the university has been constructed on a piece of land measuring four acres, but an additional area of 10 acres is also with them, according to the MoU. It has yet to be seen whether or not such agreements constitute any right in relation to occupying the additional land, he added.
"Prima facie, this memorandum is no justification to retain such additional land," remarked the head of the bench, Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui. "The issue arising out of the petition that the entire land is meant for a park shall be considered in the light of a counter-affidavit and today's statement of Farogh Naseem," the judges said. With these remarks, the judges adjourned the hearing for a later date.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2014.
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