KARACHI: The High Court of Sindh (SHC) on Friday directed the petitioner’s counsel, who challenged the launching of the mega residential and commercial project – Naya Nazimabad City, to argue on the legality of the project. Petitioner Syed Haroon Ahmed submitted that the Naya Nazimabad project, that consists of 4,000 plots and jointly launched by the stockbrokers Arif Habib, Aqeel Karim Dhedhi and others, submitted that respondents’ builders and developers wanted to establish the Naya Nazimabad City on industrial land, which was dangerous for the residential construction where asbestos fibre has been dumped in the past. The petitioner submitted that his brother Syed Fareed Ahmed had died while working as the chief maintenance engineer at a private factory from the same type of fiber in 2006 and the inquiry committee, constituted to ascertain his cause of death, had described the cause of death as consumption of asbestos. He said that the Federal Board of Revenue should investigate that the people who have bought 4,000 plots and thousands of flats or apartments are not harmed by the negligence on the part of the government. He mentioned in the petition that the Javedan Cement was privatised at throwaway price in 2006 under the commitment that the industrial unit will be revived and a power plant of 100MW will be installed, as mentioned in different relevant documents. He submitted that the company ceased its cement business in 2010 and the management developed business diversification for utilising the company land for the housing scheme Naya Nazimabad which means the privatisation was aimed at occupying the land. The petitioner submitted that the company’s land was allotted for 99 years of lease as per the evaluation report. However, the company shows the land in question in its audited statements as “freehold land” which was being sold to the general public under the name of the Naya Nazimabad Project. Citing Javed Corporation’s chairman Arif Habib, its chief executive, its directors, including Aqeel Karim Dhedhi, the Privatisation Commission, the Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan, the Board of Revenue, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, the Sindh Building Control Authority, the Karachi Development Authority and others as respondents, the court was prayed to declare that the area, where the project is launched, is dangerous to human health, thus not viable for residential purposes. The petitioner also requested the court to cancel the No Objection Certificate (NOC) granted by the authorities’ concerned, permitting the sale and purchase of the project. It was also requested to order the respondents to refund the money collected from the customers and that the constructions in the area should be demolished. The counsel of the petitioner withdrew prayer clause regarding the declaration that the project in question was dangerous for the human health and not viable for residences and sought time to argue on other point with regard to project Naya Nazimabad city that the project was not launched in legal and lawful manner. The SHC’s division bench, headed by Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, also issued notices to the Sindh Abad Association and adjourned the hearing for date to be fixed by the office.
