KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday directed the provincial government to make the University Road fully functional within two months.
The SHC also ordered the Sindh government to complete the much-delayed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Red Line project within the given timeline after it was informed that the project was now scheduled to be completed by October next year.
A constitutional bench of the SHC comprising Justice Muhammad Saleem Jessar and Justice Nasir Ahmed Bhanbhro made it clear that the construction of the Red Line must not in any manner affect the smooth flow of traffic on the University Road.
The bench issued such directives while disposing of a petition filed by M/s AM Associates and CR 3, and submitted that the petitioner company was executing the project, but the respondents had sealed their project site and served a termination notice on April 21 without any lawful justification and contrary to the terms of the contract.
The bench noted that the contract of the petitioner company had been terminated and the people of Karachi were suffering badly due to the worst condition of the University Road, and further asked the government to allocate additional funds for the restoration of the thoroughfare.
It also declared the actions of authorities about sealing the machinery of the petitioner company at the behest of KMC illegal, but also ruled that if TransKarachi has required such machinery in terms of the contract agreement, the dispute resolution board may be approached for retaining the machinery.
If the board fails to decide the request of TransKarachi within 30 days, the bench said the machinery must be handed over to the petitioner as per the endorsement of the commissioner/nazir, appointed by the SHC earlier for the inventory of such machinery.
It may be recalled that the provincial government had cancelled a contract last month about the construction of the Mosamiyat to Numaish corridor (Lot 2) of the Red Line.
After hearing the arguments from parties concerned at length and perusing the material available on record, the SHC disposed of the petition through a short order for the reasons to be recorded later and subject to any modification or alteration in the detailed order.
The bench in its order said that the petitioner company had obtained 10-acre land near Aladdin Park in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on a rental basis in July 2022 for three years for the establishment of a camp office, labour accommodations, material yard and batching plants for the project.
However, it also noted that the tenancy period had ended last year, and therefore, the KMC, through a final notice, issued on April 20, demanded possession of the land within a week and upon failure, the commissioner was requested to retrieve it, and accordingly, the possession of the land was taken over along with machinery and other material and handed over to KMC.
“Since possession of the land now lies with KMC and petitioner has not arrayed owner of the property as party to the proceedings therefore no writ can be issued against a person who is not party in the proceedings”, it added.
The bench further observed that as the revenue authorities had acted under the directives of KMC for the retrieval of possession, for which due notice was given to the petitioner, as such petitioner, if aggrieved by any action, has a remedy under the Sindh Public Property (Removal of Encroachment) Act, 2010, to file a review petition or to approach the tribunal concerned.
While retrieving possession of the property in question, it noted that the machinery of the petitioner was also sealed, and since KMC or even TransKarachi has not claimed any right of ownership of the machinery, the actions of the authorities of sealing the machinery at the behest of KMC were declared illegal.
Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2026
