The Sindh High Court (SHC) has ordered maintaining status quo in the case of the construction of a multi-storey building near the Mohatta Palace in the Clifton neighbourhood.
The interim order came on a petition challenging the conversion of a protected heritage residential property into a multi-storey building for the purpose of a religious place. The petitioners’ counsel said that the subject property, though leased for residential purpose and notified as protected heritage, was unlawfully developed into a Jamaat Khana without following the mandatory provision of the change of land use prescribed under the Karachi Building & Town Planning Regulations, 2002, including the competent authority’s approval and a public notice inviting public objections.
The counsel said the approved building plan and subsequent permission allowing the construction are illegal, as the excavation and the proposed four-storey structure violate heritage conditions and exceed the permissible height in relation to the Mohatta Palace, another protected building.
He said that the impugned action is a serious threat to the structural integrity of the adjoining heritage buildings and the petitioners’ residences, adding that the ongoing construction infringes upon the petitioners’ rights to privacy, light, air and peaceful enjoyment of their properties, and endangers their houses’ foundations and diminishes their value.
The additional advocate general said Dawat-e-Hadiya (Qazi House) is a protected heritage under Sindh Cultural Heritage (Preservation) Act, while the issues relating to lease, title, land use and building approval fall within the jurisdiction of the revenue department and the Sindh Building Control Authority.
He said that after receiving complaints of excavation, the heritage department had issued a show-cause notice, ordered the suspension of the excavation, and referred the matter to the technical and advisory committee.
The court was informed that conditional permission had been granted only after due deliberation, subject to independent structural assessment, strict compliance with heritage guidelines, and the prohibition of excavation until the receipt of a structural report and the condition that the proposed construction would be below the height of the Mohatta Palace and cause no structural damage to the adjoining protected heritage.
The law officer said the department has consistently directed the project consultant to adopt all the necessary safety measures, and the preservation of the Mohatta Palace would remain its foremost concern.
The other counsel sought time to file comments on the petition. An SHC division bench headed by Justice Adnanul Karim Memon directed the parties to address the arguments in the next hearing, ordering to maintain status quo in the meantime.
