SHC suspends notification to hand over Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim to Bahria Town

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday suspended the Sindh government's notification to hand over Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim to Bahria Town.

In this regard, notices were issued to Government Sindh, Secretary Municipality, and Bahria Town for April 18.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Junaid Ghaffar heard the case filed by Mayor Karachi Waseem Akhter.

"Handing over of the park to Bahria Town is illegal. The decision should be reversed immediately," the court noted.

The handing over of the park to Bahria Town was a point of contention between the ruling PPP and legislators of the opposition MQM-Pakistan, who expressed their outrage in the Sindh Assembly last week.

The MQM-Pakistan claimed that handing over the park was illegal.

“As per the Sindh Local Government Act 2013 section 74, only KMC’s functions and not its assets can be taken from it,” Waseem Akhtar told reporters earlier today.

“We filed a petition against the park’s handover. The notification issued by the local government secretary says that the handover should be cancelled, as it is illegal in our opinion,” Akhter said while talking to members of the press outside the SHC.

Mayor Karachi has filed a case against Sindh government's decision to hand over Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim to Malik Riaz's real estate company, Bahria Town.

The CM remarked that there was no commercial motive involved in the handover of Bagh Ibn-e-Qasim. 

“Karachi’s mayor should use his powers to serve the public,” Shah said. “[Waseem Akhter] should focus on work instead of complaining.”

“We filed a petition against the park’s handover. The notification issued by the local government secretary says that the handover should be cancelled, as it is illegal in our opinion,” Akhter said while talking to members of the press outside the SHC.

Akhter said that the Sindh government’s notification contradicted its letter to the municipal commissioner requesting the completion of the formalities for the handing over of the park, as the notification clearly stated that the park had been taken away from KMC’s custody and handed over to Bahria Town.

“They [Sindh government] are making their own notification null and void,” the mayor said.

Akhter claimed that the park was lush green when it was handed over to the Sindh government. “A Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) worker was handed over the maintenance contract for around PKR 5000,000 but he did not spend a single rupee on the park. It was a planned move to bring the park to this condition so that a messiah could step in to improve the park's situation," the mayor said. "We will try our best to not let any more China cutting happen in the future."

Akhter highlighted his reservations on the timings mentioned in the park’s agreement, stating that the local government wants the park to be open to the public at all times.

When asked about his reservations with the handover, the mayor said, “This park is Karachi Municipal Corporation’s (KMC) property. It belongs to the public. We object to the way the handover agreement was finalised and a notification was hastily sent to the local government, without taking KMC on board.”

Akhter continued to say that the KMC was neither shown the agreement nor did the council give its approval for this agreement. “A public interest call was not published in the newspapers, neither was the due procedure followed, without which the agreement or notification stand void.”  

The mayor pointed out that Karachi has many spaces where parks can be made, citing Sohrab Goth as one such place. “[Sohrab Goth] is a bad face of the city with traffic and encroachments giving off a bad impression to those entering the city. The Barra market area in the vicinity is a park plot. If that can be converted to a park, it'll be a gift and great service to the public of Karachi."