High court orders SBCA to demolish illegal construction in Agra Taj Colony

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday directed the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) to demolish an illegal construction in Agra Taj Colony in the Lyari neighbourhood.

The direction came on a petition of Ashfaq Ahmed against raising of unauthorised construction in Agra Taj Colony. The petitioner’s counsel, Aisha Soomro, submitted that a private builder was raising an illegal construction on the plot 232 in Agra Taj Colony, which occupies 96 square yards.

She submitted that the private builder had constructed a multi-storey building on a small plot without approval of the SBCA and residents of the area were facing hardship due to construction of unauthorised portions.

The lawyer submitted that only ground-plus-two-floors were permissible in the vicinity but the respondents were constructing a seven-storey building on the subject plot. The high court was requested to declare the unauthorised construction at the subject plot unlawful and order its demolition.

A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, after hearing the counsel, issued notices to the Sindh advocate general and SBCA. The high court observed that unauthorised constructions were being raised in Agra Taj Colony even up to eight floors. The bench directed the SBCA to demolish illegal construction, if any, raised on the subject plot by the private builder without an approved building plan in violation of the Karachi Buildings and Town Planning Regulations 2002.

The SHC also directed the SBCA to submit a report within six weeks and maintained that in case of non-filing of the report, the SBCA director general shall appear in person to explain the non-compliance.

The bench also restrained K-Electric and the Sui Southern Gas Company from providing electricity and gas connections to the subject property unless a completion certificate was issued by the SBCA. The high court also restrained the Lyari Town sub-registrar to register any portion/unit of the subject building until the SBCA had issued a completion certificate.