SHC summons KMC chief over failure to remove encroachments

Karachi
The Sindh High Court on Friday directed the administrator of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, Sajjad Hussain Abbasi, to appear in court and explain why court orders pertaining to the removal of encroachment in and around the Jahangir Park were not complied with.
The court directed the KMC administrator to appear in court while hearing the petition of Agha Syed Attaullah Shah who had challenged an unlawful construction at the historical Jahangir Park situated in Saddar.
The petitioner submitted in court that the Supreme Court while deciding a suo moto case, had ordered the now defunct City District Government Karachi to restore the status of the public park and develop it. However, construction was being carried out around the park, encroaching on its area.
The petitioner said the park should be developed for public welfare without any unlawful construction.
At the previous hearing the KMC officials had said that government employees had been provided alternate accommodation an encroachment would be removed from the park. The court had directed the KMC and other relevant authorities to remove all the encroachment in and around the park and submit a compliance report within two weeks.
Chhipa encroached space
The head of a charity association assured the Sindh High Court that encroachment made along the footpath of Lines Area near the FTC flyover would be removed within two months.
Ramzan Chhipa assured the court that his association with also shift its Dastarkhwan and ambulance service from the front of plot ZC-I and ZC-II in Sector 8-A of Lines Area, Scheme 35, within two months. The association had moved court against directions issued by the district authorities for the removal of its ambulance service station near the FTC flyover and other sheds established on footpaths.
The owners of the plot had also challenged the allotment of amenity space to the charity association contending that the front portion of their properties had been blocked due to encroachment by the charity association on the footpath at the FTC flyover and the road leading to Sharea-e-Faisal from Lines Area.