The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday put the chief secretary, the Ministry of Ports and Shipping secretary, the Port Qasim Authority chairman and other officials on notice in a petition against handing over of two islands, Bhindar and Dingi, for building safe city.
Headed by Justice Maqbool Baqar, the division bench was seized with the petition of Shahid Hussain Soomro seeking an injunction against the safe city project.
The petitioner, through his counsel MB Khatian, submitted that the chairman of BahriaTown, Malik Riaz, and US Investment Group Thomas Kramer had inked the MoU for the project.
He submitted that under the project, BahriaTown, in collaboration with the foreign companies associated with prominent US investor Thomas Kramer, would construct safe city on two islands of Sindh, Bhindar and Dingi, some 3.5 kilometres off the Karachi shore.
He stated that a private firm had entered into an agreement for building safe city in Karachi without following legal formalities. He said the two islands were the property of the Sindh government and without obtaining a sanction for the proposal or NOC from the provincial government, the islands could not be handed over to anyone.
He said the Port Qasim Authority chairman was not authorised to hand over the islands, adding that the people of the province were not happy with the development.
Khatian submitted that the agreement was contrary to the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 19-A of the constitution.
Citing the chief secretary, the Ministry of Ports and Shipping secretary, the Port Qasim Authority chairman, senior members of the Board of Revenue and the CEO of Bahria Town as respondents, Khatian requested the court to set aside an agreement signed for building the project.
After hearing preliminary arguments, the court issued a notice to the respondents, adding that the date of hearing would be fixed later by the court’s office.
