The Sindh High Court (SHC) circuit bench Sukkur on Tuesday ordered demolition of commercial buildings on the state land within 48 hours. Earlier, the bench expressed resentment over non-compliance of the court orders to remove encroachments from the land of the irrigation department. “Why the illegally built buildings were not demolished within two weeks deadline given by the court,” the bench questioned. “These buildings should be demolished within 48 hours at any cost,” the court ordered. The bench demanded compliance report of the court order from concerned officials in the next hearing of the case on December 10. Earlier, the court questioned permissions granted for construction of buildings on the state land, and ordered arrest of the Assistant Director Building Control Authority Sukkur, Abdul LatifJarwar. Police arrested the building control official in the court premises, on the judicial orders. The officials of provincial irrigation and revenue departments were present in the court hearing. The bench had ordered demolition of commercial structures built on the irrigation land in Sukkur on November 19. Advocate General Sindh had pleaded the court to grant two-month time for the removal of illegal structures from the irrigation land. Observing that the Sindh government had earlier gained time to launch the operation, the Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered to remove the commercial structure immediately and gave a month for removal of residential structures from the lands after proper arrangements for the affected people.
