Apex court stays SHC’s order to demolish Moon Gardens

Builder places himself at court's mercy; seeks reprieve for residents

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) suspended on Tuesday the Sindh High Court's order to demolish the illegally-built residential complex, Moon Gardens, and evict its residents.

The two-judge bench of the apex court headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan also asked the petitioner, Abdul Razak Khamosh, who is the builder of the project, to deposit a surety of Rs50 million in cash as well as a bank guarantee of the same amount with the court within two weeks.

The high court, while hearing an appeal filed by the Pakistan Railways Cooperative Housing Society, had on September 29 directed the police IG and Sindh Building Control Authority director-general to get the premises vacated and demolish the building as it was found to be built illegally on the society's land in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. They were given a month to comply with the order.

While hearing the builder's appeal against the SHC order, the apex court ordered that no further lease of the subject property, where the Moon Gardens project is built, would be granted during the pendency of the case.

The bench also questioned whether the petitioner could contest the case on behalf of the apartments' owners. Secondly, whether any penalty, besides demolishing the subject building, could retrieve the dignity of the court. The court will consider these questions on the next date of hearing.

On Tuesday, the builder appeared before the apex court.

Builder's plea

In his plea, the builder said that the construction of the project was in compliance with all applicable building regulations as regards to height, number of floors, open spaces, and is covered by the condonation rules of the Sindh Building Control Authority as well as the Cantonment Board Faisal, Karachi.

His lawyer, Salman Akram Raja, said that the builder had constructed an apartment complex, comprising five towers known as Moon Gardens over a plot of land measuring 4,000 square yards in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karachi.

The petitioner is completely throwing himself before the court to face the consequences over the illegality which is done by him in the construction of building, said the lawyer. We are willing to even face financial penalties, he added.

The lawyer said that 200 families are residing in the complex and they should not be penalised over the builder's fault. "I'm seeking relief for the people, who would be left homeless," Advocate Salman Akram Raja pleaded.

Arrest and release

Meanwhile, the police arrested the petitioner, Abdul Razzak Khamosh, outside the SC premises when he came out after attending the court hearing. He was, however, released some time later.

The arrest was made by a special team of Karachi police, led by Sharae Faisal SHO Ghulam Nabi Afridi, who had flown to Islamabad to arrest Khamosh. Khamosh is likely to be produced before the Sindh High Court on Wednesday (today).

Anti-corruption dept kicks in

Separately, the Anti-Corruption Department raided the office of the Registrar in District East and confiscated the records pertaining to Moon Gardens. Sindh Anti-Corruption department chairperson Mumtaz Ali Shah confirmed the confiscation of the records, adding that they will scrutinise the files for discrepancies.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18^th, 2015.