KDA told to reply to plea against schools on park, graveyard lands

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) to file comments on a petition against the construction of private schools on a park land and on a graveyard land in the airport area.

The Eman Welfare Association said in their petition that a private school was constructed on state land reserved for a public park and a graveyard at survey No. 164 Deh Safooran in Karachi’s District Malir and Gulistan-e-Jauhar.

The petitioner’s counsel said that the relevant authorities, including the deputy commissioner of Malir, have been informed about the illegal occupation of the state land, but no action has been taken by the official respondents.

The counsel for the private schools filed comments on the petition saying that the school was lawfully occupying the commercial plot of land measuring an acre, out of the NA-class 164-C, and it has nothing to do with the graveyard land as alleged by the petitioner.

He said that another plot of the petitioner situated in Gulistan-e-Jauhar’s Block-14 area was also allotted by the relevant city district government after an auction for the construction of a school.

He added that the park situated next to the private school was an open public park, and that the park was not encroached upon by the school.

An SHC division bench comprising Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput and Justice Mohammad Faisal Kamal Alam directed the KDA to file para-wise comments on the petition.

Eviction notice

On the petition of a private school that has challenged the Faisal Cantonment Board’s notice for it to vacate the buildings in the board’s jurisdiction, the SHC has directed the school to first approach the board with the request to continue its operations until March 2022.

The petitioner’s counsel said the board has published a notice directing that all commercial activities, including operations of private schools, will be closed. He said the petitioner is ready to vacate the premises but it requires time to shift its schools to other suitable locations.

He also said the schools’ academic year will end by March, so the board may be directed to let the schools operate until then, so that the studies of the students may be completed without any hindrance.

The court issued notices to the KDA and the board, asking them to file their comments on January 13. The court also directed the petitioner to approach the board with their request to allow them to continue running its schools until March 2022.