KARACHI: A bench of the Supreme Court heard Tuesday a case pertaining to the encroachment and allotment of a sewerage farm, better known as Gutter Baghicha, or Municipal Gardens of Karachi.
In late 2019, a group of heavily armed land grabbers occupied 200 acres of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) Officers Cooperative Housing Society (KMC-OCHS) and 162 acres of the park on the sewerage farm.
Initially refusing to take any action against the illegal occupants despite the registration of a first information report (FIR) against them, the police acted only after the office of Karachi mayor called in Rangers to retrieve the land measuring 1,600 acres in total.
During the proceedings held at the Karachi Registry of the Supreme Court, amicus curiae Citizens for a Better Environment Secretary General Amber Alibhai and KMC-OCHS chairman appeared. A bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed heard the petitions.
The KMC-OCHS chief requested the court for adjournment of the case due to the absence of their counsel who is on leave until January 4.
He further informed the court that 200 acres of the land was allotted to it under the Sindh Local Councils Rules. “How much land was allotted and where it has been written?” the chief justice questioned.
“All [the details] has been written, the society was allotted 200 acres of land,” the society chairman responded.
“Under which rules the land was allotted,” chief justice questioned. “My counsel could elaborate it to the court,” the official said.
He pleaded for deferral of the hearing for a brief time and sought the next hearing of the case in Islamabad.
“The matter is being put off for last 25 years, [we] couldn’t visit Islamabad for hearing,” Alibhai said.
“We have attached a 1929 map [of the neighbourhood]. There was a treatment plant in Gutter Baghicha,” Alibhai informed.
The court adjourned the case and called the next hearing in Islamabad on January 11.
The bench also directed Alibhai to appear in the case hearing via video link.
