KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday dismissed the review applications filed against its earlier order for suspending a notification regarding the recent appointment of the vice chancellor of the Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU).

The JSMU and its suspended VC moved applications seeking review of the July 14 order of a division bench of the SHC on the ground that it would take time to decide the suit and pending applications before a single bench.

The two-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui asked both sides to cooperate with each other and seek disposal of such pending applications within two weeks with the approval of the single bench that was hearing the matter.

While dismissing the two review applications, the division bench observed that grounds taken in the applications did not come within the frame of Section 144 of the Civil Procedure Code and could be agitated before the single bench.

A bench restrains a wife of comedian Umar Sharif from selling his house in Karachi

It further noted the concerns of the applicants in review applications that perhaps it might take some time to decide the pending applications in the suit, but observed that it was not the scope of review jurisdiction.

The JSMU, through its registrar and Prof Dr Amjad Siraj Memon who was notified as the varsity’s VC on June 22, approached the division bench pleading to set aside its July 14 order since it suspended the June 22 notification of the appointment of the VC and also sought directive for the single bench to decide the matter within 15 days.

On July 14, the division bench had allowed an appeal against an interim order of the single bench and set aside the same which declined to suspend the June 22 notification despite an earlier interim restraining order for the search committee not to finalise candidates and ruled that the impugned notification would remain suspended till the hearing of the pending applications in the suit before the single bench.

Initially, Prof Dr Lubna Ansari Baig, one of the candidates for the post of VC, had filed a suit before the SHC against formation of the search committee for the appointment of JSMU VC and her lawyer stated that on April 2 the single bench had restrained the committee from finalising the list of selected candidate/candidates and accordingly injunctive order was passed. However, the plaintiff filed an appeal before the division bench stating that on June 24, a single bench did not entertain the request of the appellant to suspend the impugned notification and in the same order allowed earlier restraining order to continue.

Umar Sharif’s plea against wife

Another SHC bench on Monday issued notices to one of the wives of renowned comedian Umar Sharif and other defendants over a property issue.

Mr Sharif, through his lawyer, filed a suit in the SHC stating that he was the owner of a house located in Army Housing Colony, Askari-IV, and in December last Syeda Zareen Ghazal, one of his wives, had “forced” him to sign a gift deed of the property in question when he was suffering from dementia.

The plaintiff claimed that the document was illegal as his mental condition was not stable when he was “forced” to sign it and now his wife was trying to sell the house.

He pleaded to declare the gift deed illegal and restrain the main defendant from selling the property in question.

The bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar issued notices to the defendants for Aug 10 and also directed Ms Ghazal, administrator Askari-IV and sub-registrar Shah Faisal to maintain status quo.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2021