Regulatory lapses of Gul Plaza building ought to be inquired from serving management committee of the building as overall responsibility rested with them, director general (DG) Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) told inquiry commission probing the deadly fire incident of January 17.
Submitting response before the single-member inquiry commission headed by Justice Agha Faisal, DG SBCA Muzamil Hussain and other officials said the role of SBCA ceases upon issuance of completion or regularisation of the building.
They said that after regularisation of the building, the builder responsible for maintenance and later the management committee formed under the Cooperative Societies Act were responsible for maintenance of the building.
They said the SBCA did not assess structural fire resistance, and concerned structural and proof engineers registered with SBCA working on behalf of the builder were required to follow the structural design codes applicable at the time of design.
They said that as per available record, 1,043 shops were approved on September 21, 1998, while 1,102 shops were regularised on February 22, 2003 under the amnesty scheme of 2001-2002.
According to them, initial record of Gul Plaza is not traceable in the records of SBCA, however, revised approval was granted for basement and ground-plus three floors without mezzanine.
As per available record, Gul Plaza was not declared unsafe, dangerous by the technical committee on dangerous building prior to the fire incident, they added. The commission directed the DG SBCA to submit details of the number of sanctioned posts and available strength of Karachi Building Control Authority on February 13, 2011, asking: “What is the number of sanctioned posts and available strength of SBCA today?” The commission also directed DG SBCA to submit details of sanctioned posts and available posts relating to Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur and Larkana.
