The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday first ordered the immediate removal of Murtaza Wahab as administrator Karachi and when the latter twice begged the judges’ pardon, ordered his reinstatement, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
Earlier, during the hearing of Gutter Bagheecha park land encroachment case at the apex court’s Karachi Registry, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Gulzar Ahmed ordered Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to appoint somebody else in his place instead.
He admonished Wahab and asked him to leave the courtroom when the latter lost his temper.
“Get out,” the CJP shouted. “You are not at all eligible to hold the post of administrator of the port city. You are behaving like a politician rather than an administrator in front of us,” CJP Gulzar said, and added, “You are doing politics here. If you cannot remain impartial then better quit your job.”
These remarks infuriated the Karachi administrator who said it aloud, “If politics is such a bad thing, then there is no need to be a politician.”
“Protection of these lands has been entrusted to you. And the state will retrieve these plots from the clutches of the land grabbers; whether through us or through somebody else,” remarked Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed.
“Who had ever thought that even the plots reserved for welfare works would be occupied one day,” the CJP wondered, and stated in categorical terms that these plots would forever remain reserved for this lofty purpose.
“The time has come that all housing societies launched by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) are declared ‘illegal’,” he remarked angrily.
Because, he went on to add, the KMC high-ups had minted the huge amount of money even by selling those plots which were meant for welfare works.
Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed said that even a junior officer at KMC behaved like a viceroy. “And this is our dilemma,” he remarked.
Addressing Murtaza Wahab, the CJP said that all parks of the provincial capital would have to be restored.
Commissioner Karachi, on the occasion, told the apex court that out of total 168 acres of Karachi’s land, 50 acres was in the possession of grabbers.
Addressing CJP Gulzar, the administrator said, “You are well aware of the difficulties we have to face in running the affairs of this city.”
The CJP said that Karachi’s population was now 30 million. “Hence given these figures, there should be at least 0.3 million parks in the city,” he asserted.
He further said as to in which part of the world parks were occupied. “Do you think, this city is your property?” he questioned, and added the situation had come to such a pass that even the government officers had occupied the plots meant for the parks and build their homes on them instead.
The apex court ordered the removal of all encroachments built on Gutter Bagheecha’s land and also the restoration of the park to its original condition.
Reporter: Bilal Ahmad