SHC orders restoring Taiser Town amenity plot as park

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday directed the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and the Lyari Expressway Resettlement Project (Lerp) to restore the amenity plot located in Taiser Town for the purpose of a park within a month.

The direction came on a petition against the illegal occupation of the amenity plot located in Lerp Taiser Town Scheme 45. The petitioner’s counsel told the court that his client is running a charitable trust, and that adjacent to their premises, an amenity plot meant for a park has been encroached upon by land grabbers and some construction has been raised there.

The counsel for the KMC and the Sindh Building Control Authority said that according to the provisional master plan and layout plan, the plot adjacent to the amenity plot of the trust has been marked as a park.

Lerp’s counsel told the court that the land in question is an amenity plot, but it has been converted into a residential plot for the purpose of resettling the families affected by the construction of the Lyari Expressway.

After hearing the arguments of the counsels and the perusal of the record, an SHC division bench comprising Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Mohammad Faisal Kamal Alam said that some illegal construction has been carried out adjacent to the park by some encroachers.

The bench said that a prime factor that has to be considered in the instant petition is that if the amenity plot earmarked as a park can be used for residential or commercial purposes. The court said that an amenity plot meant exclusively for a park can be neither converted into residential or commercial property nor used for any other purpose, even if it is presumed that a provisional master plan and layout plan has been prepared, with the final master plan and layout plan yet to be finalised.

The bench directed the official respondent to restore the amenity plot to its original status for the purpose of a park within one month and submit a compliance report. The court directed the respondents to ensure that concrete steps are taken for the development of the park for the betterment of the residents of the vicinity and the locality.