KARACHI: Authorities in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh have barred one of the country’s largest real estate developers, Bahria Town Karachi, from advertising or selling any property and registered a case against its owners for failing to clear dues, it emerged Monday.

The Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), a provincial body that oversees land-related matters in Sindh, said the owners of Bahria Town Karachi had failed to pay scrutiny fees to the regulator. The SBCA didn’t specify the amount owed by the developer.

It said it had issued a show-cause notice to the real estate developer, for the dishonoring of its cheques, but the firm did not respond to the notice.

“You have failed to clear your dues due to dishonoring [of] your cheques, detail of which had been communicated to you... even you failed to respond [to] the show-cause notice,” the SBCA said in its letter addressed to Bahria Town Karachi.

“As per orders of competent authority, SBCA, the provisional NoC (no-objection certificate) for sale and advertisement of the project “Bahria Town Karachi” of M/s Bahria Town (Private) Limited (DL-3069) has been canceled/withdrawn with immediate effect on account of non-payment of scrutiny fees.”

Separately, a case was registered against Bahria Town Karachi owners, Malik Riaz and Ali Riaz Malik, for the dishonoring of their three cheques, each amounting to Rs64, 168, 762.

This is not the first time that Bahria Town has faced regulatory action with regard to its mega real estate project in Pakistan’s commercial hub of Karachi.

In May 2018, a three-judge Supreme Court bench had stopped the real-estate developer from selling or allotting plots and residential units over discrepancies in its acquisition of lands for Bahria Town Karachi from the Sindh government.

The court later accepted Bahria Town’s Rs460 billion offer for the lands it acquired in the Malir district of Karachi and restrained the country’s anti-corruption watchdog from filing references against the developer.