Thread by @OonibAzam_

If the #NaslaTower is to be demolished, a sizeable chunk of developments along either side of Sharea Faisal comprising the Sindhi Muslim Cooperative Housing Society (SMCHS) would also have to be flattened. thenews.com.pk/print/902871-n…

There are scores of multistorey buildings on the main Sharea Faisal that have to be knocked down, according to the Nasla Tower management committee and SMCHS Secretary Shuaib Alam, who asserted that it is for the same reason the SC has cited in its Nasla Tower demolition orders

There are as many as 39 plots of the SMCHS on both sides of Sharea Faisal, where high-rises and other structures have been constructed, which were allotted additional land by the society but they do not have lease deeds.

Plot NoA193, on which the#NaslaTower is situated is among those plots. In June the SC had ordered the tower’s demolition over its illegal construction on a service road telling the builders to refund the registered buyers of the residential and commercial units within 3 months

On December 27 1957 the then chief commissioner of Karachi had allotted 20-feet-wide strips of land on both sides along the main Karachi-Malir Road (now Sharea Faisal) to the SMCHS.

According to the top court’s June order directing the incumbent city commissioner to demolish the Nasla Tower, Sharea Faisal was proposed to be 280-feet-wide in 1950, but after the allotment (of the 20-feet-wide strips on both sides), it was reduced to 240 feet.

This additional area is claimed to have been allotted by the SMCHS to the then plot owner of plot No. A-193. The area of the plot was allegedly increased from 780 sq yds to 1,044 sq yds.

“It is significant to note,” reads the SC order, “that this additional 264 sq yds was not incorporated either in the original amended lease or in any subsequent lease deed.”

By February 19 2010 the society had further acceded transferring “excess/encroached” land of 77 sq yds to the Nasla Tower’s plot owner, making the plot’s total area 1,121 sq yds.

This additional transfer also lacks a lease deed, and the SC has declared the additional 341 sq yds completely illegal.

The then chief commissioner’s 1957 notification of the allotment of the alignment land also makes no mention of any direction to allot the strip of land to any of the plot holders.

The SMCHS secretary is of the opinion that back then the service road was unallotted unutilised and unsurveyed He says the society has the power to transfer additional land to any plot owner so the front plot owners of ShareaFaisal were transferred the additional 20feetwide strip

The #NaslaTower management committee is all set to file a new petition in the top court against all those 38 plots that the SMCHS has allotted additional land on Sharea Faisal, which is around 264 sq yds for each plot.

The committee’s Chairman Muhammad Ali told The News that hotels, multi-storey buildings, offices and shops are situated on this additional 264 sq yds. “We will take everyone to court now!”

Advocate @zubair1878 , who has expertise in land-related cases, said the SC has already discussed all these issues during the #NaslaTower hearings. He also said the residents would not be able to get any benefit out of two wrongs.

@zubair1878 , however, stressed that on the basis of the Nasla Tower decision, there can be any public interest litigation against all the other 38 plots on Sharea Faisal that do not have lease deeds of the additional 264 sq yds, so the SC might order their demolition as well.

The residents want their money back before vacating the building but there is no mention of the procedure of repayment in the court order @zubair1878 believes that the Sindh government can initiate criminal proceedings against all those involved or the residents can approach NAB

He said the residents can also approach NAB for the recovery of their money, as precedents have been set by the anti-graft watchdog, who has helped victims get refunded by housing societies and builders. #NaslaTower

Read this if you want to understand the timeline of #NaslaTower encroachment 👇🏻

thenews.com.pk/print/855688-h…