The Sindh High Court has given a final three-week deadline to government bodies to submit a reply on a petition regarding the proliferation of billboards, which the petitioners have termed “killers of the public” following fatalities from a recent storm in the city.
A two-member SHC bench, comprising Justice Adnan-ul-Karim Memon and Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi, was hearing on Monday a constitutional petition filed by Pasban Democratic Party Chairman Altaf Shakoor against the dangerous proliferation of signboards.
During the proceedings, the petitioner’s counsel, Advocate Khurram Lakhani, informed the court that the concerned government departments have consistently failed to submit their replies on previous dates. He described this delay as a tactic to waste the court’s time.
The public prosecutor for the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) had previously taken the stance that the city’s signboards do not fall under their jurisdiction, upon which the court had directed them to submit a reply in writing.
The honorable court has now issued a final ultimatum, stating that after the three-week period, proceedings will continue based on the Supreme Court’s directives, regardless of whether the bodies submit their replies or not. The hearing was adjourned until April 22.
Speaking to the media after the hearing, Mr. Shakoor highlighted that the stormy weather before Eid led to numerous incidents of falling signboards and walls, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries among citizens, with 19 fatalities officially on record.
He appealed to the honorable court to take strict action against the heads of the responsible government bodies to prevent future tragedies, equating the dangerous hoardings to other civic disasters like water tankers and open manholes.
The Pasban chairman also criticized the Sindh government, suggesting that it should protect the lives and property of citizens instead of being preoccupied with “issuing challans and collecting extortion.”
Mr. Shakoor and his counsel demanded that the top officials of the responsible bodies be disqualified. They further demanded that compensation for the families of the deceased and injured be deducted from these officers’ salaries and that all their perks and facilities also be cancelled.