The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of a petition seeking removal of Hotel Metropole as protected heritage, after additional advocate general sought time to take more instructions from the government.
The SHC bench, headed by Justice Nadeem Akhter, was hearing the petition filed by the Karachi Property Investment Company (Pvt) Ltd which cited the City District Government, Karachi Building Control Authority and chief secretary as respondents and requested the court to direct them to strike down Hotel Metropole as protected heritage site.
During the Wednesday’s hearing, the additional advocate general submitted that there was possibility of resolving this issue by considering the proposal of revising the list of heritage sites. However, he requested the court to allow him more time as he needed to take instructions from the government. Upon his request, the court adjourned the hearing to a date which was decided by the court’s staff later.
In the last hearing, the court was informed that the government would reconsider the list that declared Hotel Metropole as protected heritage.
Earlier, the petitioner had submitted that it had acquired ownership of the land and the building belonging to Hotel Metropole in 1967 and many offices had been rented out to different parties. It informed the court that the culture department through a notification had declared 1,061 buildings, including Hotel Metropole, as protected heritage site. “The entire architecture has been demolished or renovated in 2006 and major structure was also demolished by the Karachi Building Control Authority,” the petitioner added. The petitioner submitted that the building had no more archaeological value, so it should not be declared as a protected heritage site.