SC orders Sindh to shift Napa to CM House if no space available

KARACHI: The Karachi registry of the country’s top court told the Sindh government on Wednesday to shift the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) to the Chief Minister House if no other space is available, but it should be moved out of the Hindu Gymkhana heritage site.

Hearing a petition about the construction of an auditorium and the allotment of an office to Napa, a three-member Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed asked a provincial law officer how the construction was allowed at the property declared a heritage site and why the Napa office was not shifted yet. The law officer said the government was unable to arrange an alternative space for moving Napa, adding the provincial administration is facing a shortage of space for its own offices. The officer said the Hindu Gymkhana was rented out for establishing Napa, but the academy’s administration raised an auditorium and obtained a stay order from the court.

The court observed that the heritage site cannot be handed over to any institution in such a manner. The bench said the heritage site has to be vacated, and asked the law officer to shift Napa to the Chief Minister House if no other alternative space can be arranged. The Supreme Court directed the officer to submit a reply about the shifting of Napa from the heritage site.