Karachi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that the buildings of Supreme Court, Sindh Assembly and Sindh High Court would also be encroached soon, if the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) did not take effective measures against encroachers.
Justice Gulzar Ahmed passed these remarks while heading a two-judge bench that was hearing a petition regarding illegal construction at an evacuee trust property in Lyari, at its Karachi registry.
During the hearing the bench of the apex court came down hard on SBCA over their failure in removal of unauthorized construction on the said land.
Justice Gulzar remarked that SBCA officials keep their eyes closed to illegal construction. The SBCA should be closed, if it was not giving fruitful result.
He added that there so many illegal buildings in the city in general in Saddar area in particular, saying the builders use to flee after receiving amount in advance but there is nobody to take them to task.
Justice Gulzar went on to say that Sindh government was equally responsible in this regard. Karachi has become a ‘jungle of cable’, the situation is not different at Shahrah-e-Faisal, one of the main roads of the city.
Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, the other member of the bench, noted that the persons who were earning Rs23000 in the past had now become a billionaire through malpractices. He said that there was no one to take action against illegal constrictions in the city.
The additional advocate general submitted that there is law and order issue in Lyari that’s why the government was avoiding use of force. He said that the contractor who was arrested on the court directives had been granted bail by the high court.
Directing the chief secretary to take effective measures for removing such construction, the court sought compliance report.