KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) has once again ordered the demolition of the 11-storey residential building Nasla Tower on Karachi’s Shahra-e-Quaideen. The Supreme Court rejected the petitions of builders and residents of the building.
Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed resumed hearing on Wednesday’s morning of petitions against the encroachments in the city at Karachi Registry. A major portion of this building was constructed on a service road and some part was built on the land of a housing society for which the builders could not provide any paperwork or evidence before the court.
The top judge asked Karachi’s commissioner to completely demolish this tower and restore the government land at Karachi’s Shahra-e-Faisal and Shahra-e-Quaideen.
The advocate general said that one side of the building is illegal and that should be demolished.
Earlier, on April 8, 2021, the SC had directed the commissioner to recover the government’s land from the encroachers and builders including Nasla Tower.
“Don’t talk about the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) in front of us,” the judge said.
They are responsible for all illegal constructions in Karachi, Justice Gulzar commented. “There is not vacant land in Pakistan Employees Cooperative Housing Society (PECHS). Where did this land come from?” he said.
The SBCA DG had earlier said that this land was spotted after the re-allotment of the road.
“The builder never comes to the court, he is missing,” Justice Ahmed remarked. “He has even convinced the authorities to make a report in his favour.”
Nasla Tower is located at the intersection of Shahra-e-Faisal and Shahra-e-Quaideen. One apartment in the tower roughly costs Rs30 million.
