SHC Directs Authorities To Submit Hyderabad's Map, City Survey Record

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Apr, 2021 ) :In a case concerning the ongoing anti encroachment operation in Hyderabad, Sindh High Court has directed the authorities to submit Hyderabad's map and city survey record from the years 1943 to 1946.

Hyderabad circuit bench comprising justice Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan and justice Muhammad Saleem Jessar said the old record would be used to verify the dubious claims about old constructions on the government land which the district administration wanted to demolish as encroachment.

The court also constituted a core committee headed by Deputy Commissioner Fuad Ghaffar Soomro and tasked it to deal with the complaints against the operation.

The Additional Registrar of SHC, the Municipal Commissioner of Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and lawyers representing the petitioners and complainants would be part of the committee.

The old revenue record of Hyderabad was sought after some commercial tenants of HMC claimed that the structures existed at or before the time of partition.

"We have decided that the structures which existed in the old map won't be touched but the rest will be razed," justice Khan said in remarks during the hearing.

Advocate Ayatullah Khuwaja, who represented a shopkeeper, argued that the HMC itself constructed shops outside the Deaf and Dumb School in City taluka and rented out the same.

He said the school's building still existed in its original form but the HMC had been unable to operate the school.

Advocate Irfan Qureshi said the HMC was taking rent from the shops which proved that the premises was not an encroachment.

He contended that hundreds of shopkeepers and their thousands of workers would be deprived of their livelihood if the structures were brought down.

Qureshi also demanded compensation for the tenants if the HMC was adamant to go ahead with the demolition.

Advocate Arshad S Pathan claimed that he had himself seen the city survey record and maps from 1943 to 1946 and that some of the structures which were being razed as encroachment also existed then.

Justice Jessar pointed out that HMC had served notice to its tenants and leaseholders conveying that the agreements had been cancelled.

Justice Khan pointed out that the Empress Market in Karachi was also surrounded by the shops but on the court's order the tenants were issued notices to vacate and they complied the orders as well.

The DC Soomro complained against Cantonment Board Hyderabad (CBH) saying that the board was neither removing encroachments nor the power generators which were installed on the footpaths.

He also apprised the bench that the Sindh Building Control Authority was also not cooperating in identifying the encroachment by sharing the record of its approved and unapproved structures.

The SHC directed the DC to submit in writing all the problems he had been dealing with in implementing the court's order.

The court was informed that a committee to decide the cost of shifting of the electricity poles from the road centers has been formed.

However, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) had refused to become a member of the committee because it says the problem pertained to Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) At the hearing on March 20 HESCO had demanded Rs157 million from Sindh government as the cost of the relocation but the latter refuse to provide the funds arguing that the company was responsible for its transmission system.