Daily Times

KARACHI: The city’s traffic police has been directed by the Sindh High Court to ensure that no illegal parking is being done on the roads of Saddar.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Irfan Saddat Khan warned the DIG traffic, “Adverse inference can be drawn against him if appropriate action is not taken.”

The judges asked him to submit a report explaining as to under what authority a contractor was allowed to charge parking fee.

The court had taken up the petition filed by Mehmood Khan, who had taken respondents – Karachi Cantonment Board (KCB), Sindh chief secretary, DIG Traffic, SSP traffic south zone, station house officer Preedy and others – to the court for allowing charged parking in the heart of Saddar.

The petitioner impugned the KCB’s letter issued on Sept 04, this year, identifying parking lots and authorizing private contractors to charge parking fee.

In his petition, Mahmood had submitted that unscrupulous persons without having any proper and legal authority had established parking lots along the Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Road, Falak Naz Plaza, Saghir Hussain Shaheed Road, Naz plaza and other roads in Saddar. “Moreover, the contractors, who are hand in glove with the respondent authorities, were illegally charging parking.”

He told the judges that the parking of cars and motorcycles along the main roads had affected the smooth flow of traffic in the city’s economic hub. Vehicles are parked in two and three lanes, encroaching upon half the roads, thus creating bottlenecks.

The petitioner, a resident of Saddar, said that illegal parking lots have become public nuisance and is causing disturbances for the residents and business community of the area. Their fundamental right of free movement guaranteed under the country’s Constitution is being restricted.

Mahmood’s lawyer argued that the KCB’s letter regarding parking was unlawful and illegal, as there is no law that allowed it to auction parking lots and charge parking fee.

Parking fee cannot be charged in the absence of any appropriate legislative authority, since there is no provision in the Cantonment Act 1924, empowering it to levy the fee, he said adding that the KCB has acted in violation of the Article 4, 23, and 25 of the country’s Constitution.

The petitioner pleaded the judges to declare the impugned letter illegal and unlawful and direct the respondent authorities to stop parking from the above-mentioned roads.