Tired of the city government’s persistent inaction to pay compensation money to those displaced because of the Lyari Expressway Project, the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday froze the accounts of the City District Government Karachi (CDGK). A division bench of the SHC, comprising of Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Shahid Anwer Bajwa, also ordered that those displaced by the Lyari Expressway Project should get accommodation inside the CDGK administrator’s residence.
Five constitutional petitions were filed by six people displaced by the Lyari Expressway Project; the complainants belonged to Abdullah Palari Goth, Shershah, Sohrab Goth and Village Pir Bux areas. They maintained that despite court orders, they were still awaiting “appropriate compensation” and allotments of plots in lieu of the land appropriated from them.
On Monday, the CDGK’s counsel stated that the city government was unable to pay the compensation money to the affected because the Federal government did not allot due funds for the purpose. At the previous hearing, counsel had assured the High Court that the city government was ready to pay the compensation money to those affected by the project. The court had subsequently ordered him to produce the complete record of paid amount and allotment orders.
In earlier hearings, the court was given the argument that the Federal government was not releasing funds to the Sindh government, which in turn, was not giving money to the CDGK. The court had ordered that since a large number of people were suffering because of the tug-of-war between the Sindh and city governments, the relevant authorities meet and thrash out a solution.
