KARACHI: The opposition leader in the City Council and nine town chairmen belonging to the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) have moved the Sindh High Court (SHC) against the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) for allowing commercial use of public parks in the metropolis.

On Monday, opposition leader in the City Council, Advocate Saifuddin, along with JI`s chairmen of TMCs including New Karachi, Liaquatabad, Gulberg, Nazimabad, NorthNazimabad, Model Colony, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Jinnah and Landhi as well as a member of the City Council, approached the SHC to challenge a decision of the City Council that allows the conversion of amenity park plots for commercial use on a rental basis in alleged collusion with private parties.

The petitioners contended that the KMC, in alleged collusion with private entities, was illegally converting amenity park plots into commercial ventures under the guise of public-private partnership agreements.

They submitted that such commercial activities included establishing sports grounds and charging exorbitant fees for their use, parking water tankers and other profit-driven operations.

They named various parks including Jheel Park, Hill Park, Umer Sharif Park, Bagh Ibne Qasim, KMC Sports Complex, Kashmir Road and others where such activities were taking place, and submitted that these facilities were being run through agreements not presented before the City Council.

The petitioners claimed that the KMC was generating millions of rupees through these ventures, which they alleged were in clear violation of the law.

They maintained that amenity park plots were intended for public use and the KMC was restricting access by commercialising them and imposing high user charges.

`Even this commercial use is providing absolutely no benefit to the residents ofKarachi, since the private party keeps the entire earnings from such ventures and pays only a nominal amount in rent to Respondent No. 1 [KMC],` the petition stated.

The petitioner further argued that the parks in question were developed on amenity plots, which, under Regulation 2-7 of the Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations, 2002, are to be used exclusively for government, health, education, religious, recreational and other non-commercial purposes of similar nature.

Citing a Supreme Court ruling, the petitioners submitted that public amenity plots could not be repurposed for commercial use and that any such conversion constituted a violation of public trust.

`The Supreme Court has further held that it is the fundamental right of the public to have access to open spaces, recreational areas and public parks without encumbrance or commercialisation,` they added.

The petitioners further argued that the Public-Private Partnership Act 2010 mandates that such partnerships must be undertaken through a process of competitive bidding.

Referring to Sections 7(2) and 18 of the Act, they submitted that a plain reading of both provisions establishes that a PublicPrivate Partnership Node must be constituted and a competitive tendering process conducted in accordance with the Sindh Public Procurement Rules, 2010. However, they alleged that no such procedure was followed in this matter.

The petitioners urged the court to declare the City Council`s impugned decision of May 19, 2025, as unconstitutional, illegal and without lawful authority.

They also sought a declaration that the commer-cial use of amenity park plots by the KMC and other respondents was unconstitutional, illegal and beyond their lawful mandate.

Additionally, they requested the court to declare the failure of Karachi mayor to present the public-private partnership agreements before the City Council as unconstitutional, illegal and without lawful authority.