KARACHI: An anti-corruption court on Wednesday granted pre-arrest bail to former director general of the Sindh Building Control Authority Manzoor Qadir alias Kaka after he surrendered in the Nasla Tower case.

       In March this year, the court had indicted 18 people, including officers of the SBCA and office-bearers of the Sindhi Muslim Cooperative Housing Society, in a case pertaining to encroachment upon a thoroughfare, where the now-demolished Nasla Tower was illegally built.

       The 15-storey commercial-cum-residential building on Sharea Faisal was demolished on the directives of the Supreme Court for having been built in violation of laws.

       On Wednesday, the former SBCA chief appeared in court and moved a bail application.

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       Defence counsel Barrister Iftikhar Ahmed Shah submitted that his client being a government employee was on ex-Pakistan leave at the time of registration of the case, so he could not join the trial.

       He further submitted that the applicant wanted to surrender to the court and join the trial proceedings; therefore, he may be admitted to bail since he apprehended his arrest at the hands of the police in this case.

       Without touching the merits of the case, Judge Muhammad Ahsan Khan Durrani granted him interim bail against a surety of Rs500,000 and fixed the matter on July 31.

       The building’s land owner, the project’s builders, former SBCA director general, SMCHS officials, master plan department director and deputy director, their subordinates and those of other departments have been booked for illegal construction of Nasla Tower by occupying 341 sq-yards of a service road along Sharea Faisal.

       Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2023