SHC tells Sarfaraz Ahmed Cricket Academy to ensure no obstruction in access to adjoining college

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday directed the administration of Sarfaraz Ahmed Cricket Academy to ensure that the students, parents and staff of the adjoining government girls college faced no obstruction in any manner in entering or exiting the college or parking of their vehicles.

The direction came on a petition filed by former cricket team skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed against interference by the administration of the college in running the cricket academy on a ground adjacent to the college in the North Nazimabad area. The college administration had also challenged blocking of the gates of the ground for the students.

A division bench of the high court headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi inquired about the present situation of the entry and exit gates of the college, to which a counsel for the academy submitted that one gate of the college had been locked, due to which vehicles had to come through the academy’s ground which destroyed its grass.

The court observed that the access of students to the college premises should not be stopped and directed the counsel to ensure access of students and staff to the college. The counsel of the cricket academy undertook that the academy administration shall not cause any obstruction to the students, their parents and staff in entering and exiting the college in any manner.

After taking the statement of the counsel on record, the SHC adjourned the matter and continued the interim stay order restraining the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, Karachi Development Authority and Sindh education department from causing any interference or hindrance in the affairs of the cricket ground and academy named after the former skipper.

A counsel for the college had earlier alleged that the main outer gates of the college had been locked restricting the entry and exit of its students. The high court also directed police to take legal action against such miscreants and provide adequate protection to the land, building of the college and its students, teachers and staff. The principal informed the SHC that a pitch had been constructed within the boundary wall of the college by the cricket academy, which was an encroachment on the premises of the college.