KARACHI: The leader of the opposition in the City Council along with various other elected local government representatives of the Jamaat-iIslami approached the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday against the recent amendments to the Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations (KBPTR) 2002 that allowed commercial use of residential properties.

Advocate Saifuddin and 11 other chairmen of town municipal corporations and union committees of the city filed a petition challenging such changes to the KBPTR 2002.

They submitted that the amendments were notified through an impugned notification issued on March 13, purportedly under Section 21-A of the Sindh Building Control Ordinance, 1979 (SBCO), but argued that the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) had clearly exceeded the powers conferred upon it.

The petitioners also argued that being residents of the city and elected representatives of the people of Karachi, they were aggrieved by the impugned notification since it fundamentally altered the complexion and nature of the city without any lawful authority whatsoever.

The petitioners further asserted that the regulations issued under Section 21-A must necessarily be for the purposes of furthering the Ordinance and cannot exceed the connnes and purpose of the law itself.

They maintained that previously, public objections were invited before seeking conversion of a residential property for education/health pur- poses, but after the impugned changes the same has been taken away, depriving the neighbours from their right of hearing.

They also submitted that in 2019, the apex court had directed the KDA that all such plots which were originally meant for residential, amenity purposes or playgrounds to be restored to their original position/state and remove all illegal and unlawful construction on such land and asserted that the impugned notification was also in violation of this judgement.

The petitioners pleaded to declare the impugned notification as unconstitutional, ultra vires to the Constitution and SBCO, and liable to be set aside.

On April 8, the SHC had issued notices to the provincial authorities cornered as well as the advocate general for April 22 on an identical petition.