SBCA restrained from demolishing multi-storey building

The Sindh High Court on Thursday restrained the Sindh Building Control Authority and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation from demolishing a multi-storey building situated in Jamshed Quarters till further orders.

The interim order came on the petition of Mushtaq Ahmed and others who challenged the SBCA notice with regard to demolition of the said building. The petitioners submitted that they have purchased flats in the building situated in Cosmopolitan Cooperative Housing Society at Jamshed Quarters from the builder who completed the structure after fulfilling the approved building plan.

Their counsel Haider Waheed submitted that SBCA officials have started demolishing the top floor of the building without giving any notice. He made a categorical statement at bar that the said property was not on the list submitted by the SBCA to the Supreme Court containing names of properties where construction has been made contrary to the directions of the SC and in violation of the law.

After a preliminary hearing of the petition, an SHC division bench headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi appointed Nazir as commissioner to inspect the building to ascertain as to whether it was constructed in violation of the approved building plan or not.

The court directed Nazir to verify if petitioners were residing in the respective flats in the building and submit a report by February 14. In the meantime, the SHC restrained SBCA from taking any coercive action against the petitioners, including demolition of the said building.