Nasla Tower residents to petition against 38 other plots without lease

If the Nasla Tower is to be demolished, a sizeable chunk of developments along either side of Sharea Faisal comprising the Sindhi Muslim Cooperative Housing Society (SMCHS) would also have to be flattened.

There are scores of multi-storey buildings on the main Sharea Faisal that have to be knocked down, according to the Nasla Tower management committee and SMCHS Secretary Shuaib Alam, who asserted that it is for the same reason the Supreme Court has cited in its Nasla Tower demolition orders.

There are as many as 39 plots of the SMCHS on both sides of Sharea Faisal, where high-rises and other structures have been constructed, which were allotted additional land by the society but they do not have lease deeds.

Plot No. A-193, on which the Nasla Tower is situated, is among those plots. In June the SC had ordered the tower’s demolition over its illegal construction on a service road, telling the builders to refund the registered buyers of the residential and commercial units within three months.

On December 27, 1957, the then chief commissioner of Karachi had allotted 20-feet-wide strips of land on both sides along the main Karachi-Malir Road (now Sharea Faisal) to the SMCHS.

According to the top court’s June order directing the incumbent city commissioner to demolish the Nasla Tower, Sharea Faisal was proposed to be 280-feet-wide in 1950, but after the allotment (of the 20-feet-wide strips on both sides), it was reduced to 240 feet.

This additional area is claimed to have been allotted by the SMCHS to the then plot owner of plot No. A-193. The area of the plot was allegedly increased from 780 sq yds to 1,044 sq yds.

“It is significant to note,” reads the SC order, “that this additional 264 sq yds was not incorporated either in the original amended lease or in any subsequent lease deed.”

By February 19, 2010, the society had further acceded transferring “excess/encroached” land of 77 sq yds to the Nasla Tower’s plot owner, making the plot’s total area 1,121 sq yds. This additional transfer also lacks a lease deed, and the SC has declared the additional 341 sq yds completely illegal.

The then chief commissioner’s 1957 notification of the allotment of the alignment land also makes no mention of any direction to allot the strip of land to any of the plot holders.

The SMCHS secretary is of the opinion that back then the service road was unallotted, unutilised and unsurveyed. He says the society has the power to transfer additional land to any plot owner, so the front plot owners of Sharea Faisal were transferred the additional 20-feet-wide strip.

New petition

The Nasla Tower management committee is all set to file a new petition in the top court against all those 38 plots that the SMCHS has allotted additional land on Sharea Faisal, which is around 264 sq yds for each plot.

The committee’s Chairman Muhammad Ali told The News that hotels, multi-storey buildings, offices and shops are situated on this additional 264 sq yds. “We will take everyone

to court now!”

Saifuddin Advocate of the Jamaat-e-Islami said that it is highly unlikely that Nasla Tower residents would get any relief on the basis of this petition.

Advocate Zubair Abro, who has expertise in land-related cases, said the SC has already discussed all these issues during the Nasla Tower hearings. He also said the residents would not be able to get any benefit out of two wrongs.

He, however, stressed that on the basis of the Nasla Tower decision, there can be any public interest litigation against all the other 38 plots on Sharea Faisal that do not have lease deeds of the additional 264 sq yds, so the SC might order their demolition as well.

‘Pay us back’

The residents want their money back before vacating the building, but there is no mention of the procedure of repayment in the court order. Abro believes that the Sindh government can initiate criminal proceedings against all those involved, or the residents can approach the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

On September 22, a three-judge SC bench had dismissed the review petition against the demolition of the 15-storey Nasla Tower. The court said the petitioner’s counsel had failed to show any title or registered lease deed about the allotment of area in excess of 780 sq yds.

The top court directed the Karachi commissioner to implement the June 16 orders, following which the assistant commissioner of Ferozabad on October 16 served Nasla Tower residents with an eviction notice that was also published in newspapers.

The notice warned that necessary proceedings under Section 3(i) of the Sindh Public Property (Removal of Encroachment) Act 2010 or “other coercive action” might by initiated against the occupants in case they failed to vacate the building within 15 days.

Meanwhile, the residents say that the authorities can demolish their building because they are willing to vacate it, but only after the builders pay them the market value of their flats.

“Once we leave the building, we will be running from pillar to post for our money, and no one will come to our aid,” Ali pointed out.

He had purchased two flats: one at a cost of Rs13.5 million nine years ago that he says has a market value of Rs27.5 million now, and the other at a cost of Rs18.5 million three years ago that has an apparent market value of Rs20 million now.

“It wasn’t in a nook of the city where this building was being constructed. It was in the heart of Karachi — Sharea Faisal,” he stressed.

He said if they buy new properties after checking all the NOCs from the relevant municipal agencies, who is to say that a few years down the line, the SC would not declare all those NOCs illegal and order demolishing their properties.

He pointed out that according to the top court, the SMCHS was unauthorised to allot the land. So, he asked, why do the judges not summon the society officials.

The problem is that there is no mention in the SC order of how the commissioner would ensure that the residents are refunded. Abro said if the allottees adopt the legal course, it could take years before they get their money back from the builders.

When asked if the commissioner could freeze the accounts of the builders or the officials involved in the illegal allotment, he pointed out that no such instruction was mentioned in the order for the commissioner.

The provincial government, however, can initiate criminal proceedings against all those involved, lodging an FIR against them and freezing their assets in the light of the top court’s decision, said Abro.

He said the residents can also approach NAB for the recovery of their money, as precedents have been set by the anti-graft watchdog, who has helped victims get refunded by housing societies and builders.