No consultation with Sindh govt required for Gul Plaza lease, judicial commission told

KARACHI: The municipal commissioner of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation has informed the Gul Plaza Judicial Commission that no consultation was necessary under the law with the provincial government in the matter of the original lease and the subsequent mutation and renewal of the lease of the building.

The Municipal Commissioner, Sumera Hussain, in her response also stated that the record has sufficiently established the continuity of the lease agreement and the nature of the transaction as a renewal transaction, and no further document was available evidencing consultation with the provincial government.

Earlier, the single-member commission headed by Justice Agha Faisal of the Sindh High Court, tasked with the investigation into the deadly fire incident, had observed the resolution of the mayor regarding the grant of a lease of the subject property and had directed the municipal commissioner to produce a document evidencing consultation with the provincial government in the matter in pursuance of the provisions of Section 45(5) of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 1979.

In response to the notice, the municipal commissioner stated that upon seeking comments and verification from the Director Land (KMC), it has been reported that no such document was existing on the record regarding consultation.

The statement also claimed that the subject property was part of an existing leasehold agreement based on a lease granted by the Karachi Municipality in favor of East India Tramways Company Limited in 1936, effective from 1884, for an aggregate period of 99 years with an option for renewal.

It further claimed that in conformity with the People’s Local Council (Land) Rules 1975, existing leases granted by the government or its predecessor body were to be continued on an existing basis and were deemed to be leases granted by the Council.

The reply claimed that in this regard, it was submitted that the leasehold agreement over the property in question was renewed and mutated in favor of M/s Jenica Limited in 1991, and such an exercise was undertaken in continuation of an existing leasehold agreement and in conformity with the legal regime applicable to renewal leases and not in any way constituting a fresh grant, allotment, and disposal of Municipal Land.