Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday gave the order for removal of Director General (DG) Sindh Building Control Authority Zafar Ahsan and directed the Sindh Chief Minister to replace him with an "honest officer".
A three-member bench of the SC comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah issued the orders for the removal of the SCBA chief while hearing the case pertaining to removal of encroachments and restoring the original shape of the city.
The bench came hard on the officials of the SBCA and also ordered Chief Secretary Sindh to look after affairs of the SBCA till an "honest officer" is appointed as DG SBCA.
The bench also asked Advocate General (AG) Sindh that this provincial department is very corrupt, at which the AG admitted it. However, he explained that there are honest officials in the department too.
The court declared it would not allow anyone to exploit the rights of the citizens of Karachi while expressing anger over the state of affairs related to removal of encroachment in the metropolis.
Justice Shah remarked that portions are illegally built after giving bribe. The CJP said this is the total destruction of the city.
He also asked about the reasons behind the mess in the city and said that Karachi is not a village but it was known as "jewel of Pakistan" once.
Justice Gulzar Ahmed also enquired the AG Sindh whether illegal constructions have been removed in the city. He also asked about the situation of parks and playgrounds in the city.
The CJP quoted Article 40 of the Constitution regarding empowering local government and asked the AG whether this article didn't apply in Sindh".
The CJP said that there is a strong perception that the SBCA allowed the construction by taking the bribe and ordered Sindh Chief Minister to look into this serious issue.
The court also directed the Chief Minister to purge the authority of all the dishonest officials and ordered Chief Secretary for restricting of the SBCA.
The court also showed its displeasure over construction of building over the land specified for Benazir Bhutto Park and issued notice to the owner of the building.
The court also took up the case regarding the construction of a building on nullah in Sindhi Muslim Society area of Karachi and stated that this has been done through China-cutting.
The court also issued the orders for complete restoration of Kidney Hill Park. The court also issued the orders for demolition of under-construction building on Rashid Minhas Road by suspending the stay order against it.
During the proceedings, Mayor Karachi complained about lack of powers and told the court that he has the authority only over ten percent of Karachi. "Why did you come after winning the election if you can't do anything," the court remarked over the complaint of Mayor Karachi.
The Secretary Local Government Sindh argued that the Mayor's complaint about lack of powers is not right and told the court that local government institutions have all the financial powers.