KMC cannot lease portion of public thoroughfare to benefit individuals, rules SHC

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has observed that the Karachi Metropolitain Corporation does not have the right to lease a portion of a public thoroughfare for the benefit of a particular class or person to the exclusion of general public.

A division bench of the high court comprising Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed and Justice Mohammad Abdur Rehman struck down provisions of the by-law 14 of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) parking by-laws 1975 with regard to the charged parking of public thoroughfares for private persons being ultra vires of the provisions of the Section 96 of Sindh Local Government Act 2013.

The order came on identical petitions seeking enforcement of permission by the KMC for reserved parking at Al-Azam Square and other adjoining areas under the provisions of the by-law 14 of the KMC parking by-laws.

The petitioners had submitted that they were granted permission from the KMC in May 2023 for a reserved parking space for their vehicles on a public thoroughfare against a fee of Rs1.4 to Rs1.8 million per annum.

They submitted that officials of the KMC informed them the permission for reserved parking were being withdrawn. They alleged that the charged parking director of the KMC had demanded illegal gratification for not issuing cancellation of the permission and requested the high court to allow them to use the parking space till the expiry of the permission.

The KMC’s counsel submitted that the petitioners had failed to pay fee instalments and the charged parking director was authorised to cancel the permission if they had failed to pay the instalment amount. He submitted that the KMC had the requisite power to authorise reservation of parking and permit a portion of a public thoroughfare to be reserved for benefit of a private individual to allow them a private parking space.

The high court after hearing the arguments observed that under the by-law 14, a portion of a thoroughfare has been blocked for the benefit of a person such as the petitioners to the exclusion of the general public for a determined term against a monthly parking fee.

The high court observed that such allotment was amount to lease being granted by the KMC in favour of the individual.

The SHC observed that prima facie, it was apparent that the KMC had conferred the right to enjoy a property to the petitioners for a period, which was like granting a lease to the petitioners over a portion of public thoroughfare.

The SHC observed that the Supreme Court had already observed in the Nasla Tower case that no lease could be granted in respect of public thoroughfare.

The bench declared the provision of the by-law 14 of the parking by-laws to be ultra vires to the Section 96 of the local government law read with the part 1 of its schedule V. The SHC also directed the KMC to return all the amount received from the petitioners in respect of the reserved parking space within one month.