KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has put a stop to the construction of a 20-storey apartment building next to the Frere Hall heritage site while hearing a petition against building high-rises in the area.
The petitioner’s counsel, Faisal Siddiqui Advocate, argued that multi-story buildings cannot be constructed within a radius of 200 feet of the iconic Frere Hall, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
However, a 20-storey building was being constructed on Plot No. 6/1 CL-6, next to the heritage site, without the necessary approval from the Heritage Committee and the Sindh Department of Environment.
The Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) had issued an illegal NOC for construction on the 3,165-square-yard plot, according to the petition.
The bench, led by Justice Aqeel Ahmad Abbasi, ordered the construction to be stopped and called for the approval records to be presented at the next hearing.
In a separate case, another SHC bench ordered the removal of all encroachments on the property of a school in Orangi Town.
The bench, headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, issued the orders while hearing a petition against the alleged illegal possession of 100,000 square yards of the school land.
The petitioner’s counsel, Usman Farooq Advocate, claimed that the government land was being occupied by the land grabbers mafia, and the Indus Hospital had proposed to set up a hospital and a college on the piece of land in question.
The bench ordered the deputy commissioner for District West to remove all encroachments and the director of Katchi Abadis in Sindh to personally appear in court with the necessary paperwork.
