KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday was informed by advocate general of Sindh that the government would reconsider the list that declared Hotel Metropole as protected heritage.
The SHC bench headed by Justice Nadeem Akhter was hearing the petition filed by Karachi Property Investment Company (Pvt) Ltd which cited city district government of Karachi, Karachi Building Control Authority and Sindh chief secretary as respondents and requested the court to direct them to strike down Hotel Metropole as protected heritage site.
In Tuesday’s hearing, the advocate general informed the court about the meeting of Technical Committee of Sindh’s Cultural Heritage that will be conducted today (Friday) to reconsider the list of protected heritage site. He said, “There is a possibility that immoveable property involved in one or all the petitions may be deleted from the list or the entire list may be revised.” The court adjourned the hearing till May 24th.
Earlier, the petitioner had submitted that it had acquired ownership of the land and building belonging to Hotel Metropole in 1967 and many offices had been rented out to different parties.
The petitioner informed the court that the Sindh Culture Department through a notification had declared 1,061 buildings including Hotel Metropole’s building, as protected heritage site. “The entire architecture has been demolished or renovated in 2006, major structure was also demolished by Karachi Building Control Authority,” the petitioner added. The petitioner had submitted that the building had no more archaeological value, thus it should not be declared as a protected heritage site as it would cause the petitioner.