KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Friday directed the Director General of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) to file a criminal case against the builder who raised a ground plus six-story building on a residential plot in Karachi’s district central without an approved building plan.
The court ordered the DG SBCA to name in the case the authority’s delinquent officers who were on duty at the time the illegal construction was raised.
Petitioner Maryam Khatoon approached the court in 2020, claiming that a multi-story commercial structure was being built on a residential plot in her neighbourhood, putting a strain on the area’s utility and drainage services.
The court ordered the then-DG SBCA in March 2020 to ensure that no illegal structures were built on the plot in violation of the Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations 2002.
On May 25, 2021, Muhammad Raqeeb, the SBCA’s director of District Central, filed a report to the court indicating that a ground plus six-story building had been constructed without obtaining SBCA approval for any building plan. The builder was found to have violated several Karachi building and town planning regulations, according to the report.
A two-member bench led by Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi observed that the court had ordered demolition of the illegal structure in May 2021, but that the orders had not been followed up on until now.
The bench directed the DG SBCA to demolish the illegal construction in accordance with the court’s earlier order within 45 days and to submit a compliance report before the next hearing date.
