HYDERABAD: The Sindh High Court on Monday granted bail to former Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) president Seth Goharullah in a sum of Rs500,000 in an illegal power plant case registered against him by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

The bail was granted by a single bench of SHC’s Hyderabad circuit comprising Justice Amjad Ali Sahito.

The applicant was represented by Advocate Omer Soomro. Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Parkash Kumar was also in attendance.

The defence counsel argued that the FIR was registered with a delay of nine years and no plausible explanation was given for the delay. He said that his client was accused of illegally generating electricity and supplying it to factories and a shopping mall. He said the FIR accused his client of having caused a loss of Rs670m to government exchequer.

In fact, the counsel said, his client had submitted an application with Hesco authorities seeking to generate 3.4MW gas-based electricity. The application was fixed before Hesco’s board of governors which allowed it on June 30, 2011.

The defence counsel said that the board had also authorised Hesco chief to sign a letter of intent and after completing all formalities, his client started generating electricity but in 2024, he was implicated in a case, otherwise there was no such allegation against him that he had caused a loss to the exchequer.

He said his client was presently in jail and he was no more required for investigation in the case. His further detention would not improve the case of prosecution, the counsel added.

The deputy attorney general opposed granting of bail to Set Goharullah on the ground that the Hesco NOC possessed by the accused was fake as the then power utility chief or Nepra had never issued NOC to generate electricity. The DAG said that Section 409 and 420 of the PPC were rightly invoked in the case.

The bench noted that the grounds agitated by applicant’s counsel required further inquiry into the alleged guilt of applicant. It observed that at the bail stage, only tentative assessment was to be made, hence applicant’s counsel had made out a case for grant of bail in view of sub-section (2) of Section 497 CrPC. He allowed the bail in a sum of Rs500,000 while mentioning that observations made were tentative in nature and would not influence trial court while deciding case of the applicant on merit.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2024