ISLAMABAD / KARACHI: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Thursday recalled expansive Supreme Court orders from 2018 and 2019, which had authorised the Sindh government to demolish a number of illegally constructed buildings in Karachi, including the infamous 15-storey Nasla Tower on Sharae Faisal.
In a judgement billed as redefining the boundaries of exercising judicial authority, the FCC ruled that though the objective behind the SC directions to demolish illegal buildings were well-intentioned and aimed at improvement of the city, the enforcement of building laws remained primarily within the domain of the provincial government, not the judiciary.
Justice Aamer Farooq, who authored the judgement, was heading a two-judge FCC bench that had taken up a set of appeals initially moved before the Supreme Court, but later transferred to FCC after the passage of the 27th Constitutional Amendment.
The ruling emphasised that it was for the government and its agencies to take all necessary legal measures to ensure due process in each case. The FCC cannot, on the basis of some reports of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) alone, direct the demolition of dwellings without adherence to the requirements of due process.
