Karachi: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has sought a detailed reply from the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) regarding a petition on the anti-encroachment operation in the Lea Market area of the metropolis, a news source reported. KMC has been asked to submit its reply on December 19.
A division bench of the court headed by Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi issued the directives. The bench was hearing a petition submitted by a union of over 170 traders filed through their counsel Advocate Irfan Bhutta.
The petition maintained that the traders were tenants of KMC and that the city administration had allowed them to convert their vegetable stalls to general shops as per a plan approved by the engineering department.
It added that the displaced traders were bona fide tenants of KMC and had legally set up their establishments as against thousands of illegal structures that were being demolished by the authorities.
The petitioner prayed the court to order KMC not to demolish the shops, to which the bench issued notice to the civic body to submit a detailed reply on demolition of shops in Lea Market in the next hearing on December 19.
