Sindh High Court moved against construction activity at Hill Park

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has been approached against no-objection certificates issued by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation for construction within Hill Park, as Jamaat-i-Islami lawmakers and local government representatives challenged the move and sought orders to halt all activity at the site.

According to the petition, an MPA and two local government representatives of the JI asked the court to stop construction, development and commercialisation in the park. They named the local government secretary, KMC, the Karachi mayor and the director general of parks as respondents. The petitioners said the roughly 62-acre Hill Park is earmarked as a public space under the master plan and the relevant legal framework.

The petitioners argued that the KMC issued two NOCs in April relating to Plot No 39-G-4, Block-6, PECHS Society, which they said effectively allowed construction at Hill Park despite court protections for the site. They contended that the Supreme Court and the Sindh High Court had already issued multiple rulings for the protection of the park and had barred construction, commercial use and encroachments on public spaces and parks in Karachi, particularly Hill Park.

The plea stated that after the NOCs were issued, excavation began in the park and boundary walls were put up. It also alleged that a private entity was running commercial operations inside the premises through an indoor sports arena and charging Rs8,000 for a two-hour slot, even though, the petitioners said, such use had repeatedly been declared unlawful by the judiciary.

Advocate Usman Farooq, representing the petitioners, told the court that the NOCs and the construction activity infringed citizens’ fundamental rights under Articles 9, 14 and 25 of the Constitution. He further argued that the NOCs themselves were conditional and did not establish ownership or demarcation, and therefore could not lawfully be used to justify construction in light of binding judicial orders concerning Hill Park.

The petition also cited Regulation 18-4.1 of the Karachi Building & Town Planning Regulations, 2002, saying an amenity plot reserved for a specific purpose cannot be converted or used for any other purpose. The petitioners asked the SHC to strike down the NOCs as unlawful and restrain the respondents and anyone acting under them from carrying out any construction, development, commercialisation or any other activity at Hill Park on the basis of the impugned NOCs or otherwise.

They also requested directions for the demolition and removal of any structures or boundary walls already raised, and for restoration of the land to its original condition in line with the orders and judgements of the Supreme Court and the SHC.

Separate plea filed over Beach View Park

The JI also moved the SHC in a separate matter seeking to overturn a City Council resolution concerning Beach View Park. In that petition, JI City Council opposition leader Advocate Saifuddin challenged the decision to hand over park land to a private organisation for the construction of a museum.

Citing the local government secretary, KMC, the mayor and others as respondents, the petitioner said the resolution had been adopted in violation of the procedural requirements of the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, and that the rights of elected members to deliberate on the issue had been suppressed.

According to the petition, the City Council passed the resolution on March 12, 2026, to award Beach View Park land to the Citizens Archive of Pakistan for a museum. The petitioner argued that the move was made without legal authority and in violation of binding pronouncements of the superior courts. The plea asked the SHC to declare the resolution illegal, ultra vires and void ab initio, and to restrain the respondents from awarding, leasing or transferring any part of the park to a private entity.