SBCA put on notice on plea against construction work at Karachi Gymkhana

The Sindh High Court on Thursday issued notices to the Sindh Building Control Authority and others on the Sindh government’s appeal against the high court’s single-judge order with regard to the permission of construction work at the Karachi Gymkhana (KG).

The court, however, observed that the construction work being carried out by the KG shall be subject to the outcome of the appeal. Being aggrieved with the SHC’s single-bench order with regard to the continuation of the construction work at the KG, the Sindh government submitted that the high court’s order was not as per the law as the matter about the title of the KG was sub judice before the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The Sindh advocate general filed some relevant documents pertained to the property of the case. He said the KG was running its affairs without a legal basis as the case of the title of the property was pending before the SC and during the pendency of the appeal, no building plan could be approved without a registered lease deed in the favour of the KG.

He requested the court to grant an interim injunction against the SHC’s single-bench order that allowed the KG to continue the construction work in the premises. The SHC’s division bench, headed by Justice Khadim Hussain M Sheikh, after the preliminary hearing of the appeal issued notices to the SBCA and others and called their comments on August 11.

The counsel of the Karachi Gymkhana sought time to reply to the appeal. The court observed that the construction work being carried out by the KG shall be subject to the outcome of the appeal.

Detention cases

The SHC directed police and other law enforcement agencies to recover the missing persons allegedly picked up from different parts of the city. Petitioners Sabika Sheikh, Saba and Abdul Talha submitted that police and other law enforcement agencies took Mohammad Faheem Khan, Faisal Ali Khan and Umer Ali into custody during raids in Shadman, Pak Colony and Korangi, and that their whereabouts were unknown.

They said police and other law enforcement agencies neither produced them before any court of the law nor any details of their cases were being informed to their family members. They sought the production of the detainees before the court and also requested the court to direct police and other respondents to provide details of any cases registered against them.

The Rangers denied the arrest or detention of Faheem Khan in its comments. The SHC’s division bench headed by Justice Abdul Maalik Gaddi directed police and other law enforcement agencies to file comments on the petitions and also directed the relevant SSPs to make efforts for early recovery of the detainees.