The Sindh High Court (SHC) has taken exception to the frequent transfers and postings of officers in the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), which, the SHC said, has also been affecting compliance with the court’s orders.
The SHC also directed the SBCA chief to appear in person for an explanation. The court said that frequent transfers of public servants affect their morale, and weaken the administration, which cannot be termed good governance.
Hearing a petition of Mohammad Akram Paracha against an unauthorised construction in District South, an SHC division bench comprising Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput and Justice Mohammad Faisal Kamal Alam said that various court orders on unauthorised constructions have been frustrated due to SBCA officers’ frequent transfers.
The bench said it appears that in many identical petitions on the subject of illegal constructions, various orders have been issued by the court for compliance with its orders, which are being frustrated by way of making frequent transfers or postings of the relevant SBCA officers.
The SHC questioned the performance of the SBCA, as several orders of the court have not been complied with due to the frequent transfers and postings of the authority’s officers.
The SBCA district director said the authority reshuffled directors of different districts, resulting in him being transferred from District South to District East, and just a day earlier, he was transferred to District Malir. He asked for the present District South director to be told to file the compliance report.
The bench said that neither had the building control authority’s director for District South appeared in court nor had the orders of the SHC been complied with.
The court said that in instant case, the aforesaid officer has been transferred twice in three weeks, which in fact has not only hindered and impeded compliance with the SHC’s orders issued on November 10 but also amounts to defiance of the orders.
The bench directed the SBCA director general to appear in person, along with a comprehensive report on the compliance with the court’s orders. The SHC directed the office to communicate a copy of the order to the local government secretary as well as the SBCA chief.
The SHC also directed the provincial law officer to file comments on a petition against the transfer of Karachi Development Authority (KDA) chief Asif Ali Memon.
Memon said in his petition that within three months of his appointment as the authority’s DG, he was transferred after he was assigned several tasks by the Supreme Court for the removal of encroachments from amenity plots in the city.
The Sindh advocate general questioned the maintainability of the petition in terms of Article 212 of the constitution, and sections 4 and 10 of the Sindh Civil Servants Act. He also sought time to file comments on the petition.
The court adjourned the matter until December 23, directing the petitioner’s counsel to come prepared to satisfy the court on the maintainability of the petition in respect of the contention raised by the AG.
