Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed on Thursday warned that the Supreme Court may issue contempt of court notices to Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and other officials of the provincial government if they failed to comply with a 2019 order regarding the recovery of encroached Railways land in the city.
A three-member bench presided by CJP Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, heard the case pertaining to restoration of Karachi Circular Railway at the Supreme Court’s Karachi Registry. Mayor Karachi Waseem Akhtar, commissioner Karachi, secretary Railways and advocate general Sindh were present for the hearing.
The chief justice ordered the authorities in Sindh to restore Karachi Circular Railway within a week and remove all the encroachments. The court also issued a contempt notice to Sindh Provincial Minister for Labour Saeed Ghani over his remarks of not removing the encroachments.
During the hearing, the chief justice inquired regarding the progress made in restoring the KCR. The Sindh advocate general replied that it is ‘impossible’ to restore the old KCR. “There were 24 [KCR] gates, most of which are encroached, the land was to be provided by the Ministry of Railways,” he said.
To a question, the advocate general said the court had ordered the restoration of the circular railway but the project has now been absorbed into China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. He informed the court that the provincial government formulated a framework for KCR’s restoration thrice and sent it to the federal government, adding that the Sindh government cannot, by itself, send a framework directly to China.
However, the railways secretary said the ministry is not delaying the project and is completing its responsibility.
To this, the chief justice said that even though the Ministry of Railways has not done its job according to the agreement, but “what have you [Sindh authorities] done?” He also ordered the Karachi commissioner to remove all encroachments from land belonging to Pakistan Railways.
Grilling Mayor Akhtar, the CJP inquired, “What have you done until now? You are the real head of Karachi. Whether it is Railway Housing Society or petrol pumps, demolish whatever comes in between. We need Karachi Circular Railway to be restored in its original form.”
The apex court further ordered the railways secretary to submit relevant documents and said, “if the court is not satisfied, everyone would be given notice of contempt”.
The chief justice, during the proceedings, ordered the removal of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) Director-General Mushtaq Soomro while hearing the encroachments case. The top judge asked the reason behind Karachi’s current situation and said, “This is not a village, this is Karachi, once known as the jewel of Pakistan.”
During the hearing, Faisal Siddiqui, the lawyer for citizens affected by the evictions ordered by the Supreme Court, informed the court that 6,500 people have already become homeless due to the KCR revival project. He alleged that the government does not bulldoze buildings of the rich but only targets the poor.
To this, the CJP remarked that the government does so because it is not in their interest to against the rich and powerful. He then turned to the commissioner Karachi to direct him to bulldoze all buildings built on Railways land. He added that they should be demolished within a week and the court will issue an order in this regard.
The commissioner reminded the CJP that the Sindh High Court has restrained the authorities from bulldozing the buildings in question. The CJP told the commissioner to go ahead with the demolition nonetheless and inform the Sindh High Court that it is being done on the Supreme Court’s orders. The case was later adjourned.
