The top court has directed that departmental and criminal proceeding be initiated against all the officials involved in its approval, wondering that the building structure is still standing there.
KARACHI: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-Dec 27th, 2021) The top court on Monday ordered authorities to register a case against officials who were behind getting the 15-storey Nasla Tower approved in Karachi.
The apex court directed that departmental and criminal proceedings be initiated against all the officials involved in its approval.
A SC two-member bench comprising Chief justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin passed he orders while hearing multiple matters including unauthorised and illegal construction, encroachments of amenity plots, conversion of residential properties into commercial ones and the issue of two private hospitals allegedly running their health facilities on amenity plots at the apex court's Karachi registry.
Attorney General of Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan, Advocate General of Sindh Salman Talib Ud Din, Karachi Commissioner Iqbal Memon, Karachi Administrator Murtaza Wahab and senior Director of the anti-encroachment department Bashir Siddiqui were present there in the court.
A matter regarding demolition of Nasla Tower, a petition filed in 2014 seeking possession of Hindu Gymkhana, applications about rehabilitation of affectees dislocated due to the anti-encroachment drive in Karachi and the cases regarding the Karachi Circular Railway were fixed for hearing at the Supreme Court Karachi registry on Monday.
The Advocate General informed the court that steps had not been taken up so far to provide compensation to the affectees of Nasla Tower.
As a result, the SC ordered the seizure of 780 square yards of the land Nasla Tower was constructed upon and directed the Sindh High Court's (SHC) official assignee to stop its sale.
During the hearing, Karachi Commissioner Iqbal Memon said that five of the building's floors had been demolished and 400 labourers were working on the task. "Four hundred people can not manage to demolish a single building?" questioned the chief justice.
On it, the commissioner said that the building's internal structure had been demolished and only the external could be seen.
At this the CJP remarked, "Such a building is torn down in one hour in the world, ".
The CJP asked, "What are you people doing?".
The CJP also asked the commissioner about mentioning that the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) obstructed the demolition work in a report that he submitted to the apex court. On it, the commissioner said that they had stopped people in a civilized manner, ABAD (Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan) also protested and they dealt peacefully with the them.
Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin asked the commissioner as to why he had written that a Samma tv report was interfering.
The commissioner said that they dealt the affairs in a peaceful manner and Section 144 was imposed to stop the people from approaching the building.
Justice Amin remarked that the issue is that non-state actors are activated owing to the weakness of the state. However, he remarked: "The bottom line is that the building is still standing,".
