SHC restrains SBCA from taking action against private land owners

By Jamal Khurshid
January 14, 2025
The front of the Sindh High Court building in Karachi. — AFP/File
The front of the Sindh High Court building in Karachi. — AFP/File

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has restrained the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) and others from taking any action against the owners of a piece of land without due process or contrary to the law until the next hearing date.

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The interim order came on a lawsuit of Hanif and others against what they termed illegal interference by the SBCA on a construction by the plaintiffs in Quetta Town in the Scheme 33 area. The plaintiffs’s counsel, Syed Haider Imam Rizvi, submitted in the case that the plaintiffs were the lawful owners of the suit property and had submitted an application for submission of the proposed building plan on July 10, 2021 along with a challan in respect of the suit property with the SBCA officials.

He submitted that the matter with regard to approval of the proposed building plan had been pending with them since July 19, 2021 and as the plaintiffs received no response, they proceeded to raise construction on the suit property.

He said the SBCA officials along with police had been visiting the suit property and had threatened to demolish the construction raised by the plaintiffs. They also threatened the plaintiffs’ labourers/contractors at the site of the suit property, the counsel added.

The counsel sought a declaration under the Regulation 3-2-6-2 of the Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations 2002 to enable him to continue to raise the construction and directions to restrain the government officials from interfering in the construction.

With regard to maintainability of the lawsuit after the 26th constitutional amendment, the counsel submitted that the high court had always exercised inherent jurisdiction under the Section 9 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC), and therefore, this plaint, as filed was maintainable.

He submitted that the bench could grant all the reliefs, which should not be denied as the subject matter raised by this court was sub judice before it and the Supreme Court of Pakistan. A single bench of the SHC comprising Justice Jawad Akbar Sarwana observed that while the interpretation of this provision and vires of the 26th Amendment to the 1973 Constitution were pending before the court, a particular issue that would arise was whether after the passing of the 26th Amendment, the bench, according to the roster assigned to it, i.e. exercising original jurisdiction, could even entertain that, and if so, grant interim relief which was in the nature of the same relief which the 26th Amendment had specifically assigned to the roster of the constitutional bench of the high court under the Article 199(a)(i) and (c) and Article 202(A)(3) of the 1973 Constitution.

The bench observed that in order words, whether the 26th Amendment had prima facie removed from the roster matters assigned by the Constitutional Court (of the High Court of Sindh) under the Section 9 of the CPC, 1908, as such matters are to be dealt by the Constitutional Benches under Article 202(A)(3) alone, particularly, when the plaintiff, as per the pleadings, in the present circumstances, had impleaded only government officials as the defendants.

The high court directed the plaintiff’s counsel to address the question raised by this bench on the next hearing date. The SHC in the meantime issued notices to the SBCA and others for January 29 and restrained the SBCA from taking any action against the plaintiffs without due process or contrary to the law, until the next hearing.

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