SHC asks Sindh govt to fix University Road within two months
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KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday directed the provincial government to make the University Road fully functional within two months. The SHC also ordered the Sindh government to complete the much-delayed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Red Line project within the given timeline after it was informed that the project was now scheduled to be completed by October next year. A constitutional bench of the SHC comprising Justice Muhammad Saleem Jessar and Justice Nasir Ahmed Bhanbhro made it clear that the construction of the Red Line must not in any manner affect the smooth flow of traffic on the University Road. The bench issued such directives while disposing of a petition filed by M/s AM Associates and CR 3, and submitted that the petitioner company was executing the project, but the respondents had sealed their project site and served a termination notice on April 21 without any lawful justification and contrary to the terms of the contract. The bench noted that the contract of the petitioner company had been terminated and the people of Karachi were suffering badly due to the worst condition of the University Road, and further asked the government to allocate additional funds for the restoration of the thoroughfare. It also declared the actions of authorities about sealing the machinery of the petitioner company at the behest of KMC illegal, but also ruled that if TransKarachi has required such machinery in terms of the contract agreement, the dispute resolution board may be approached for retaining the machinery. If the board fails to decide the request of TransKarachi within 30 days, the bench said the machinery must be handed over to the petitioner as per the endorsement of the commissioner/nazir, appointed by the SHC earlier for the inventory of such machinery. It may be recalled that the provincial government had cancelled a contract last month about the construction of the Mosamiyat to Numaish corridor (Lot 2) of the Red Line. After hearing the arguments