The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday issued notices to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and others on a petition challenging the KMC City Council resolution that awarded three acres to a private organisation to construct a museum in the Beach View Park.
The Jamaat-e-Islami’s City Council opposition leader Saifuddin Advocate and council member Taimoor Ahmed said that on March 12 the City Council had passed a defective resolution to award approximately three acres of Beach View Park land to the Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP), a private organisation, to construct a museum.
The petitioners said the Beach View Park is a designated public open space and recreational park under the Master Plan and applicable statutory frameworks, and is subject to the protection of several binding judgments of the superior courts.
They said the resolution was passed in manifestly illegal and dubious manner, as the agenda for agenda item No. 13 pertaining specifically to the Beach View Park resolution was deliberately not issued or circulated to the members of the City Council prior to the meeting.
They said members of the council were reportedly restricted and prevented from speaking. They also said the impugned resolution was then rushed through the council and declared as passed within mere seconds, without any meaningful deliberation, proper voting procedure or transparent discussion in violation of the democratic and procedural norms mandated by the SLGA 2013 for the functioning of the City Council.
They said the private organisation to which the three-acre portion of the Beach View Park has been purportedly awarded under the impugned resolution is described in the relevant correspondence and background material as a non-profit heritage organisation.
However, they said, regardless of the characterisation of the recipient organisation, no authority under the SLGA 2013 or any other law permits the award, alienation or use of designated public park land for any construction purpose whether cultural, commercial, semi-commercial or otherwise, particularly where binding judicial orders of the superior courts expressly prohibit any such activity on public open spaces in Karachi.
They said the impugned resolution, if implemented, would result in the permanent loss of three acres of a designated public open space to a private construction project, set a dangerous precedent for further commercialisation of the remaining public parks of Karachi, and violate the constitutional rights of millions of residents of Karachi who rely upon these parks as their only access to open air and recreational space in an increasingly dense urban environment.
They said the SLGA 2013 does not confer any authority upon the City Council or the KMC to alienate, award or permit the use of designated public park land for any construction purpose whatsoever whether framed as a PPP arrangement, a cultural institution, a museum or any other characterisation.
The court was requested to declare the City Council’s resolution on March 12 and any resolution passed in amendment or furtherance with regard to the commercialisation of public parks, and restrain the private respondent from carrying out construction work at the public park and remove any structure or boundary wall already raised or any site preparation carried out at the park.
The petitioners requested the court to restore the land to its original status as a public open space, and direct the authorities concerned to immediately halt, seal and prevent any construction activity at the Beach View Park.
After the preliminary hearing of the petition, an SHC division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Saleem Jessar issued notices to the KMC and others, telling them to file their comments on June 30.
