A three-member bench of the apex court comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah heard multiple petitions with regards to the condition of the city of Karachi.

The Supreme Court has removed the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) Director General Zafar Ahsan while hearing a case regarding illegal buildings within the city. The Chief Justice has asked the Sindh Chief Secretary to appoint an ‘honest person’ to hold the office and take strict action against any illegal activities undertaken by the department. He has also ordered Karachi Mayor and Sindh Government to demolish all illegal buildings in Karachi within a week.

The Chief Justice clearly pointed out to the advocate general that the department is very corrupt. He brought the topic of Nazimabad where he mentioned illegal houses were being made openly after bribing the concerned officials.

Encroachment and city beatification

The Chief Justice asked about the lack of infrastructure projects within the city to which the Mayor Waseem Akhtar responded that small streets had been built in the Nazimabad area. The Chief Justice struck down the response as a lie and said, “There are no small lanes there, present a record of how many roads you have made.”

“Why don’t you people beautify the city, tell?” the Chief Justice asked.

He told the Advocate General to read Article 140 of the constitutions which reads, “all governments are bound to devolve administrative, financial, and political powers from the federal to the provincial and from the provincial to the local governments.”. He further asked them if their actions were in line with this rule.

He then said that it was the Mayor’s and the local government’ s responsibility who had all the powers and monetary means.

He further stated that most projects were being done by the money given by the world bank and they had pocketed most of the money without doing anything for the people.

“You people wear a suit and sit in an office. Tell us this, what street did you visit last,” he said adding: “Tell us why you people don’t make the city beautiful.”

The court has also ordered the city to be restored to its actual layout without any illegal additions.

Karachi Circular Railway

The Chief Justice also looked into the revival of the Karachi Circular Railway which he had ordered last year to be reopened throughout the city. He questioned the concerned authorities and blamed them for corruption and unnecessary delay.

Aladdin Park, Rail Park Residency Land Allotment

The Chief Justice also inquired about the allotment of this piece of land to a man from Dubai. “Who is this Nasir Hussein lotha? How have you given this land to him?”, he asked.

The lawyer responded that the Sindh Renew Board had allotted it and a committee had accepted it.

The Chief Justice inquired about the powers of this committee to carry out such judgements as the land was not even the government’s property but a trust property. The court has cancelled the land ownership of Rail Park Residency. Also the court has ordered to confiscate lands of all projects related to Rail Park.

KMC

With regards to KMC, the chief justice pointed out the corruption carried out by the department who is in control of charged parking and others projects. “The people doing the collection do not even receive their rightful income. They do not even have money to pay for their electric bills.”, he said.

The judges expressed extreme displeasure at the state of Karachi and ordered the authorities to work on it. “This is not a rural village, but at one time it used to be the jewel of Pakistan,” the chief justice stated. He inquired about the vanishing parks and playgrounds.