KARACHI, Nov 21: Justice Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui of the Sindh High Court vacated on Friday an interim injunction granted against recovery of ‘special Eid fee’ imposed on cattle traders by the Malir municipal administration.
The town nazim and municipal officer appeared before the court and submitted that additional arrangements involving heavy extra expenditure had to be made for the large number of sacrificial animals brought to the cattle market. The municipality had already contracted out the fee collection and the contractor had already paid Rs10 million on this account. If the recovery remained suspended, the contractor and the municipality would suffer irreversible loss.
They assured the court that the municipality would be responsible for refunding the amount should the fee be found unlawful. The cattle traders had challenged the enhanced fee of Rs150 for cows and buffalos, etc and Rs75 for goat and sheep. The normal fee is Rs20 for large animals and Rs10 for small ones. Advocate Manzoor Ahmed justified the levy on behalf of the city district government.
Meanwhile, the district veterinary officer of Malir conceded before a division bench that the vaccination fee of Rs50 per cattle imposed on the traders bringing their herd to the cattle market was unlawful. It was levied ‘by his predecessor in complicity with the contractor’.
The bench, which consisted of Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Ghulam Dastgir A. Shahani, asked the Malir municipality to deposit the fee recovered from the traders with the nazir of the court so that the fee could be refunded to the petitioners if found and declared illegal.
PIA referendum
The bench declined to stay the referendum scheduled by the National Industrial Relations Commission for election of the collective bargaining agent for Pakistan International Airline employees. The poll is due to commence on Nov 24 and continue in different wings till Dec 4.
Advocate M.A. Ghani Chaudhry and Faheem Riaz Siddiqui argued on behalf of the petitioner Air League that over 800 voters had not been enlisted while another 500 voters, who had been listed, would be away performing the Haj pilgrimage and would not be able to cast their ballots.
The bench pointed out that the petitioner had only pleaded the NIRC as a respondent whereas other unions participating in the referendum, that is the People’s Unity and the Progressive Union, were necessary parties and should have been joined as respondents. The proceedings were adjourned to Nov 26 for hearing of the amended petition.
Appointment stayed
The bench restrained the government from filling up the vacancies of professors of pathology in the Ghulam Mohammad Khan Mehr Medical College, Sukkur, on a petition moved by Dr Ghulam Mustafa Pathan through Advocate Mansoorul Haq Solangi.
The petitioner alleged that one of the successful candidates recommended by the Sindh Public Service Commission for the grade 20 posts lacked the necessary certification by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council while the other was short on the requisite publications.
The petition moved by former Sindh University vice-chancellor Abdul Hameed Memon for his dues was transferred to the Hyderabad circuit bench for hearing.
‘Petitioner threatened’
Petitioner Amir Khan Kundi has complained to the SHC registrar that he was threatened by the irrigation department high-ups for filing a petition to expose ‘misappropriation of Rs 65 million’. He said he was picked up at Quaidabad while coming to the high court and beaten up. He did not pursue one petition under pressure but ‘his conscience did not allow him to withdraw the petition alleging pilferage of a huge amount from the public exchequer’. He said he had been assured protection by the police chief but the influential respondents were not only still threatening him but were also carrying out their threats.
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