SBCA told to ensure fire dept’s NOC before approving building plan

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday directed the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) to formulate a standard operating procedure (SOP) to ensure that certain measures would be taken before approving any building plan and no objection certificates (NOCs) would also be obtained from the civil defence and fire departments before the construction of buildings.

Hearing a petition with regard to the implementation of the safety by-laws under the Building Code of Pakistan, a division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar inquired the SBCA director general (DG) about the compliance with court directives.

The high court had directed the SBCA DG to convene a meeting with the civil defence department and chief fire officer for amendments in regulations for issuing an NOC prior to the construction of high-rise buildings in the city.

The SBCA chief submitted that in compliance with the court directives, he had convened a meeting with officials of civil defence. He sought further time to formulate SOPs that should be circulated amongst all officers of the SBCA to ensure that before approving a building plan, certain measures were taken such as obtaining NOCs from the civil defence and fire departments.The bench directed the SBCA DG to submit the documents on the next hearing.

The high court was informed by the senior director law of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) that fire tenders were being repaired. The bench, however, was not satisfied with the progress and speed of work regarding the repair of the fire tenders.

The SHC directed the KMC metropolitan commissioner to immediately contact the workshop officials to ensure that the deadline was followed regarding the repair of the fire tenders. The bench sought a progress report with regard to the repair of the fire tenders by March 17.

The petitioner, Nadeem Sheikh, submitted that after issuance of court directives, task force had been constituted district wise and some helplines were also working but the helpline 1299 was not functional in the Commissioner Office.The assistant commissioner (general) submitted that the server of the helpline service was out of order which would be repaired within a few days. The high court directed the law department to submit reasons for stopping the fire risk allowance to the fire fighters for last 20 months.

The high court had earlier been informed that a three-tier task force on the divisional, district and sub-district levels had been constituted for the inspection of high-rise buildings, factories and industries either on private complaints or on its own to ensure that all fire safety measures had been followed in such establishments.