KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday issued notices to a candidate of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the election commission on a petition challenging his candidature.

The Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) through its counsel moved a petition against PTI’s Haleem Adil Shaikh, who is contesting the election from PS-99 (Karachi East-I), and contended that he had obtained a loan of Rs8 million from the bank, but did not return it.

The counsel argued that the PTI candidate had not mentioned the loan in the affidavit submitted along with his nomination papers.

Impleading the Election Commission of Pakistan, Mr Shaikh and others as respondents, the petitioner asked the court to reject the nomination papers of the PTI candidate over alleged misdeclaration.

After a preliminary hearing, a two-judge bench of the SHC headed by Justice Khadim Hussain M. Shaikh issued notices to the ECP, the candidate and other respondents for July 18.

Meanwhile, another bench of the SHC on Tuesday dismissed a number of petitions against the preliminary delimitations of national and provincial assemblies’ constituencies in various parts of Sindh.

The petitioners Shabbir Bijarani, Ehsan Mazari, Rauf Khoso and others moved the SHC against the preliminary delimitations and challenged the ECP orders.

The two-judge bench of the SHC headed by Justice Abdul Rasool Memon pronounced the orders.

Earlier, a division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar reserved the orders after hearing both sides.

SHC seeks comments on Javed Hanif’s bail plea

The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued on Monday notices to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman and the deputy attorney general on a petition seeking release of the detained candidate of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Mohammad Javed Hanif.

The MQM leader faces the charges of corruption and allegedly making illegal appointments in the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) in connivance with a former federal minister belonging to the MQM.

Mr Hanif, a former chairman of the KPT, moved a petition through his counsel Rasheed A. Razvi, who submitted that the petitioner was aspiring to contest the upcoming general elections from provincial assembly constituency PS-95.

He further submitted that a day after the petitioner was given a ticket by the MQM to contest the polls, he was taken into custody by the NAB officials from his house on July 3.

The same day, he was presented before the administrative judge of the accountability courts who had remanded him to judicial custody.

Mr Razvi alleged that the arrest of the petitioner after joining the run for the polls was in violation of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s directives that no contesting candidate would be detained till the elections.

The lawyer pleaded before the court to declare arrest of the petitioner illegal and order his release on bail.

The court sought comments on July 12.

Order reserved

Meanwhile, a two-judge bench reserved on Monday its order on a petition filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf candidate, Naeem Adil Sheikh, challenging rejection of his nomination papers to contest the upcoming general elections from NA-236.

The petitioner informed the court that someone had filed an objection with the RO during scrutiny of his nomination papers that he had obtained a bank loan and had defaulted on the same.

He further said the RO rejected his nomination papers for not having disclosed the details of the bank loan.

He pleaded before the court to annul the RO’s order, as the same was not sustainable in the light of the legal and constitutional provisions.

On the other hand, the federal and provincial law officers advanced their arguments.

The bench, headed by Justice Khadim Hussain M. Shaikh, reserved its verdict after hearing arguments from both sides. The verdict would be announced on a date to be notified later by the office.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2018