SHC directs KMC, others to take steps to foil bid to encroach on Lyari park

The Sindh High Court has directed the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and others to take appropriate effective steps to protect Ismail Shaheed Park in Lyari against any encroachment or illegal construction.

The direction came on a petition of Zohra Begum against an encroachment at the public park situated in Shah Baig Lane, Block 1, Lyari.

The petitioner’s counsel, Ziaul Haq Makhdoom, submitted in the petition that residents of the area had made the park functional a couple of years ago, but certain unscrupulous persons demolished the road-facing wall of the park, and tried to encroach upon the park. The counsel submitted the authorities had been approached with regard to the illegal construction and encroachment on the land of the park, but to no avail.

He said the official respondents had failed to take any appropriate action to prevent the encroachment and illegal construction and conversion of the status of the amenity plot. He requested the court to restrain the respondents from such illegal acts. A division bench, headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, after the preliminary hearing of the petition, issued notices to the KMC and others, and in the meantime directed them to take appropriate steps to prevent the encroachment, illegal construction and conversion of park to use for other purpose. The court directed the official respondents to submit a comprehensive report within 10 days.

‘NAB accused’

The SHC on Monday observed that the power of the trial courts to take bond for appearance of an accused under the Section 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) will not be applicable to an accused facing a corruption reference under the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) after denial of pre-arrest bail.

The observation was made by a majority of a three-member bench of the SHC hearing petitions of people accused by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) facing trials in different accountability courts who had sought the applicability of the sections 90 and 91 of the CrPC that provide powers to the trial courts to take bond for appearance of accused.

The petitioners’ counsel submitted that after filing of the reference, the NAB chairman ceased to have such power and became functus officio viz-a-viz attendance of the accused in the court as he is not the competent authority to issue a warrant of arrest for the accused.

They submitted that such a matter would within the sphere of the trial courts, which, for procuring attendance of the accused not arrested, could issue a process under the section 204 of CrPC. They said that as per the scheme of the CrPC Section 90, a warrant in lieu of summons would be issued against the accused only when the court had reasons to believe that he had absconded or disobeyed the summons or when despite service of summons, he failed to appear or when he breached a bond executed for his appearance in the court.

They further added that it was universally accepted that even in a non-bailable offence, it was not necessary to arrest an accused unless some impeachable evidence reasonably connecting him in the offence had been collected.