KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday expressed resentment over the absence of the provincial police officer in the cases of missing persons and warned to take stern action for overlooking its orders.

On May 15, the SHC had summoned inspector general of Sindh police A D Khawaja for not appointing a focal person for missing persons.

When dozens of missing persons’ petitions came up for hearing before the two-judge bench of the SHC headed by Justice Aftab Ahmed Gorar on Wednesday, AIG (legal) informed the bench that the IG could not appear before the court as he was out of the city.

Justice Gorar expressed displeasure over the absence of the provincial police officer and warned that he would not tolerate disrespect of court, adding that stern action would be taken against the IG as well as the other law enforcement agencies if they failed to follow and enforce court orders.

The bench once again deplored that no progress was being made in the cases of missing persons since the police and other authorities concerned were filing identical progress reports on every hearing.

Justice Gorar also came down heavily on some police officers for filing old reports and making deceptive statements and said that the law enforcement agencies have to recover the missing men.

The bench directed the police to record the statements of petitioners, locate the whereabouts of missing persons and submit reports, adding that the home department, the joint investigation team (JIT) and the provincial task force must also take effective measures to trace out the relatives of petitioners. The court also issued notices to petitioners since most of them did not turn up on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the bench issued notices to the police, Rangers and other respondents on fresh petitions till June 27.

A petitioner submitted that her husband Mohammad Azam, a schoolteacher, was taken away from his house in New Karachi on March 29 and since then his whereabouts remained unknown.

KE submits reply in contempt plea

The K-Electric submitted on Wednesday a reply in a contempt of court application in the SHC and claimed that there was no unannounced loadshedding in the city.

The counsel for the power utility in the comments contended that loadshedding was carried out in some parts of the city due to a fault in Bin Qasim power plant and claimed that after fixing the fault, there was no unannounced loadshedding in the provincial metropolis.

However, he maintained that loadshedding for a load management was being carried out which was also submitted in the apex court.

A two-judge bench of the SHC directed the applicant to file rejoinder and also sought a report from the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) till June 12.

Karamat Ali and others filed an application and sought contempt of court proceedings against the officials of the KE and Nepra for deliberately subverting and undermining an earlier order of the court.

The applicants submitted that the SHC in its order handed down in March 2016 had directed the KE not to underutilise its capacity and maintenance plan as well as provide uninterrupted power supply and also asked Nepra to take action if the power utility failed to do so.

Faryal Talpur’s disqualification sought

Another two-judge bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar on Wednesday directed a petitioner to argue on June 5 about the maintainability of a petition seeking disqualification of outgoing MNA of PPP Faryal Talpur.

Moazzam Abbasi through his counsel moved a petition against Ms Talpur, a sister of former president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari, and contended that she set up a company in the name of her daughter in Dubai in 2002, but she concealed the details of the money transferred to Dubai from the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The petitioner further maintained that Ms Talpur was holding Iqama (work permit) of the United Arab Emirates and did not disclose it in her nomination papers.

Therefore, he argued that it was tantamount to violation of Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution read with sections 99(I)(f) of the Representation of People Act 1976 and pleaded for disqualification of the outgoing MNA.

CEO of JSCL gets bail

The Sindh High Court granted on Wednesday protective bail to the chief executive officer of the Jahangir Siddiqui & Company Limited.

The CEO of JSCL, Suleman Lalani, through his lawyer moved a bail application and expressed apprehension that he might be arrested by National Accountability Bureau in connection with an investigation.

The applicant contended that NAB had sent him a call up notice pertaining to an investigation being conducted against former National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) chairman Ayaz Khan Niazi.

The SHC granted him protective bail against a surety bond of Rs1 million and directed him to join the investigation.

Last year, the SHC had allowed NAB to conduct investigations against the JS Investments for allegedly defrauding the NICL.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2018