KARACHI: The Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) have been ordered by the Sindh High Court (SHC) to respond to a petition objecting to the commercial use of a property in the residential section of the old Sabzi Mandi.
According to the sources, the petitioner, Khalida Shakeel, stated that she lived in Goharabad’s Old Sabzi Mandi neighborhood and that a residential structure close to her home was being utilized for a business.
Furthermore, she also claimed that a private builder was operating large machinery that had harmed not only the neighboring houses but also the streets and drainage system of the locality.
She claimed that despite requests to the local government to cease illegal business activity in the residential area, neither the KMC nor the SBCA took any action.
The petitioner claimed that the orders of the court have been disobeyed and that the Supreme Court had ruled in a number of instances that commercial operations could not be conducted on residential property.
Besides, the counsel claimed that the builder had put heavy machinery that caused vibrations in the surrounding area, causing damage to residential houses.
The high court was asked to prohibit the builder from using the residential property for commercial purposes and to order him to pay compensation for damages caused to the petitioner’s house.
A division bench led by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi issued a directive to the SBCA, KMC, and contractor/builder, demanding comments by November 23.
