The court had given the Sindh Government one month to clear all illegal buildings from the track of Karachi Circular railway and an additional three months to launch the project. A three-member bench heard multiple petitions with regards to illegal encroachments across the city and questioned the Sindh Government with regards to the unnecessary delay in the progress of the railway project.

The court stated that the secretary should act his role and resigning if he could not. Also, contempt notice is to be issued to chief minister Sindh and secretary railways for not following the court’s directives which were issued last year.

Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed gave the ultimatum to the Sindh Government to terminate the project if the deadline could not be met and said, “If it is not possible to meet this deadline, then shut down the department.”

However, Federal Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed seemed positive that the railway department could clear 5km of land within a month.

The court also inquired the reasoning behind transferring the project to the Sindh Government and linking it to CPEC claiming that Railway is a federal institution and does not fall under the provincial wing. The development is only going to delay the project.
The next hearing for this case has been scheduled on 21st February and the Sindh chief secretary and Railways chairperson have been asked to attend.