Private contractors managing 33 parking sites in city, SHC told

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) on Monday informed the Sindh High Court (SHC) that there were 33 parking sites in Karachi being managed by private contractors who had been awarded contracts after an open auction and completion of codal formalities.

Filing comments on a petition against charged parking in different areas of Karachi, a counsel for the municipality submitted that in addition to those 33 sites, the KMC was also itself managing 16 parking sites on an experimental sites. The SHC was informed that the KMC was charging parking fees at the designated areas only and other parking sites were being managed by the district municipal corporations and cantonment boards.

The KMC’s counsel submitted that the KMC charged parking fees under the Sindh Local Government Act and 1975 charged parking bylaws. He said that if any contractor was found overcharging, the KMC took prompt action against that contractor by not only cancelling the contract but also blacklisting his name.

The KMC had also constituted district-wise vigilance teams so that no contractor could charge excess parking fees, the SHC was told. It was said that the KMC charged Rs30 for a car, Rs10 for a motorcycle, Rs70 for a Mazda and Rs150 for a bus or truck.

A counsel of the Karachi Cantonment sought time to file comments on the petition. A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro after taking the comments on record directed the petitioner’s counsel to go through the comments filed by the respondent and assist the court.

The petitioner, Khursheed Ahmed Khan, had approached the high court for taking action against charged parking fee collectors in violation of the Supreme Court (SC) orders. He maintained that the SC had issued clear directions on the issue, but private contractors were collecting parking fees on different roads of the city.

He requested the high court to direct the National Accountability Bureau to conduct an inquiry into the collection of charged parking fees in the city by private contractors, and recover the money collected in the past several years.

It is pertinent to mention here that another bench of the SHC had earlier restrained the cantonment boards in the city or any other authority thereunder from collecting parking fees in their respective jurisdictions until further orders.