SHC seeks list of commercial entities along Sea View beach

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday directed the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) and Defence Housing Authority (DHA) to place on record the complete list of commercial entities which were operational or likely to be operational from Nishan-e-Pakistan to the clock tower in the Sea View area.

The direction came on a petition against the development of a beach project at Sea View without an approved environmental impact assessment (EIA). The petitioners, Arif Belgaumi and other residents of DHA, had submitted in the petition that the CBC planned to commercialise the Sea View beach from Nishan-e-Pakistan to the Village Restaurant. They informed the high court that the cantonment board had started work on the development of a beach project from Nishan-e-Pakistan to DHA Phase V extension that was supposed to be spreading over 20.89 acres, which entailed the development of a one –kilometre-long stretch of the Sea View beach.

The petitioners claimed that the respondent planned to build eight restaurants, 15 tuck shops and 40 hawkers and street stalls within the project area. They alleged that the project was part of the plan to commercialise the Clifton beach, and the cantonment board and DHA had started occupying the beach in parts. They said that the project would certainly restrict the fundamental rights of common citizens to enjoy the beach as the planned facilities were meant for the well-to-do population only.

The petitioners said environmental experts had termed the project a recipe for an ecological disaster as large concrete structure along the coastline had shown to impact sea’s hydrological dynamics causing loss of natural land and increasing the risk for erosion and vulnerability to inundation.

They submitted that the Clifton beach was experiencing rapid sedimentation mainly due to the material dredged from the deep sea container terminal and what was causing accretion of dredged material along the beach was the natural process of shore sediment transport occurring from the west of Clifton to its east.

The petitioners submitted that any structure or development along the Clifton beach obstructing this process would result in accumulation of sediments on the western side and erosion on the eastern side of the structure.

They said that initial environmental examination of the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) was challenged before an environmental tribunal that set aside the initial environmental examination (IEE) report.

They submitted that the CBC was acting in violation of the Section 17 of the Environmental Act 2014and Sepa had failed to take action against the cantonment board which had been carrying out the project without having an approved EIA.

The petitioners argued that it was a settled law that any project obstructing view of the beach and the sea and which restricted free access to the public was in violation of the fundamental rights. They submitted that the Clifton beach had a unique identification which deserved preservation and it provided equal entertainment opportunity to the people residing in the city. They added that the respondents were marketing the proposed project as one for the welfare of the general public but they were reluctant to share information about the project.

The petitioners also questioned the ownership of the Sea View land by the CBC as the area was admittedly reclaimed land from the sea but the receding sea belonged to the province. They said that neither had the provincial government transferred the beach to the cantonment board nor was any agreement of construction of the proposed project executed between the provincial government and the cantonment board.

The SHC was requested to declare the Sea View beach from Nishan-e-Pakistan to the clock tower an open natural beach, free from any artificial modification, development and construction.

The petitioners also requested the high court to declare the construction of the project in the name of development of beach without EIA approval as illegal and violation of the environmental laws.

A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi directed the CBC and DHA to file a complete list of commercial entities which were operational or likely to be operational from Nishan-e-Pakistan to the clock tower. The high court observed that complete description of such entities with their ownership was to be specified in the report.