The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday ordered to issue 45-day eviction notices to houses and shops on amenity plots prior to their demolition after a joint framework was submitted in the court by federal, provincial and city governments for removal of encroachments and relocation of affected people.
A larger bench of SC headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar resumed the hearing on the petition, filed by former City Nazim Naimatullah Khan about the occupation of amenity plots in the metropolis.
Mayor Karachi Wasim Akhtar, Attorney General Mansoor Ali Khan, Advocate General Sindh Salman Talabuddin and other officials appeared in the hearing at Supreme Court's Karachi registry.
Complying the orders of SC a day earlier, federal, provincial and city governments submitted a joint framework in the court, which stated that all three governments are unanimous to continue the operation against the encroachment.
The framework spells out the scheme for relocation of affected people, listing the location where government wants to relocate the people whose shops and stalls were demolished during the drive against encroachment.
Apex court also ordered Sindh High Court (SHC) to decide all the cases related to illegal occupation of amenity plots in the city within 15 days when Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar told the court that SHC had issued stay orders on the many amenity plots. If SHC didn't decide about these cases within the given timeframe, SC would take up all the cases, CJP ruled.
CJP explained that six weeks eviction notices is concerned with the houses built illegally on amenity plots. During the hearing, Justice Faisal Arab remarked that Sindh government kept sitting idle by seeing the city being ruined, at which Advocate General Sindh Salman Talbuddin said Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) is responsible for this situation. Mayor Karachi, however rebutted the claim of Advocate General Sindh.
On the submission of AG Sindh that KMC and Sindh Building Control Authority (SCBA) are demolishing the houses saying that it is being done on the orders of the apex court.
Justice Saqib Nisar said court would not interfere in the jurisdiction of any department, however the anti-encroachment drive should confine within the ambit of law.
Apex court directed Sindh Government to provide Rs 200 million to KMC for lifting of debris of the demolished houses and shops in anti-encroachment drive after CJP stated that federal government has nothing to do with giving the grant to KMC.
Meanwhile Court rejected the application of Tajir Ittehad for giving the alternate place for the business after their shops were demolished in anti-encroachment drive.
CJP admonished head of Tajir Ittehad Hakim Shah for seeking the alternate place for shops built on occupied land. He remarked that these people have no right to claim the alternate place for their demolished shops and said they should bear the loss themselves.
Meanwhile, Supreme Court was told that Owais Tappi - relative of former president Asif Ali Zardari is abroad for the last three years after the court ordered to produce him in the last hearing.
Tappi was accused by residents of Shah Latif Town in the last hearing of the case related to anti-encroachment operation for illegally occupying their plots, which prompted the order of CJP to produce him in court on Wednesday.
Deputy Inspector General Police South Javed Odho told the court that a notice was sent to Tappi's mother in compliance with the court's orders as well as Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has also been approached for assistance in this regard.
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