Supreme Court restrains govt from constructing building adjacent to SHC

KARACHI: The Supreme Court has restrained the Sindh government from creating any third party interest or constructing any sort of building or structure on two vacant pieces of land until the matter regarding expansion of SHC building as well as the parking space for lawyers and litigants are resolved.

The interim order came on the Sindh High Court Bar Association’s application for expansion of the high court and allocation of further space for parking of vehicles of lawyers and litigants.

The SC three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, was informed that two vacant plots on the left and right side of the SHC building at Karachi exist and the Sindh government was planning to build blocks of Sindh Secretariat there.

The court observed that the present SHC building at Karachi had already become incapable of accommodating the strength of sitting judges and looking at future increase in the strength of judges of SHC, there was no room for expansion within the building in Karachi; rather, such an expansion has to be made on the available land, which was situated on the right and left side of the building. The court observed that parking concern of lawyers and litigants could also be addressed.

The court observed that access to justice was fundamental right of the people and such right also includes provision of courts. The court observed that the Sindh government was bound under the Constitution to make provision for expansion of the SHC at Karachi and provide land to it for doing so.

The court observed that it was obvious that the SHC at Karachi cannot be shifted from where it was situated now and its adjacent lands which are vacant were the only option where new blocks of SHC building at Karachi could be constructed and provision for parking of vehicles for lawyers and litigants could be made.

The court observed that there appears to be no option but to retain the two plots of land on the right and left sides of SHC building for its further expansion and in this regard the Sindh government shall fulfill the constitutional mandate for this provision. The court, in the meantime, restrained the Sindh government from creating third party interest or constructing any sort of a building or structure on the said two pieces of land near the SHC building until the matter regarding expansion of the SHC building at Karachi as well as parking space for lawyers and litigants were resolved.