KARACHI, Feb 8: The Sindh High Court on Friday disposed of a petition moved by the late PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto against a request made by the Federal Investigation Agency for supply of documents pertaining to an inquiry into an offshore company by Isle of Man. The request was made following an order passed by the district and sessions judge of Islamabad at the behest of the National Accountability Bureau.
As the petition came up for hearing before a division bench comprising Justices Azizullah M. Memon and Arshad Noor Khan, Advocate Karim submitted that Ms Bhutto having been assassinated, the petition may be disposed as abated.
Hearing adjourned
The bench disposed of a petition agitating unlawful arrest and confinement of a person and adjourned hearing of 15 others.
The bench was informed by Deputy Attorney-General Rizwan Ahmed Siddiqui that the alleged detainee, Abdul Wahab Baloch, was not in illegal detention but had been booked in a criminal case and was facing trial before a court in Balochistan. The petition was disposed of in terms of the statement.
Advocate Noor Naz Agha submitted that Jamhoori Watan Party vice-president Salim Baloch was rearrested pending his petition. Additional Advocate-General Fareed Ahmed Dayo submitted that he had since been released again. Advocate Agha said the detainee’s re-arrest amounted to contempt of court irrespective of the subsequent release order. The bench asked her to move a contempt application within four weeks instead of seeking a contempt notice in the writ petition.
Advocate Chaudhry Mohammad Iqbal said his client Humaira Ali’s husband, Ali Mohammad, was picked up from his residence in May 2004 and nothing was known about him since. Under a previous court order the Gulshan-i-Iqbal police had registered a case on the complaint of petitioner Humaira but the case had been closed for want of evidence. Asked by the bench whether the petitioner had moved a complaint before the district and sessions judge in this behalf, the lawyer said the high court could pass any order in exercise of its constitutional jurisdiction. He criticized the law officers for shifting their stance on the question of compensation for the detainee’s wife and five children. The petition would come up on Feb 12 again.
Doctor’s case
The bench adjourned further hearing of Dr Salim Shaikh’s petition against the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council’s refusal to issue him a certificate of equivalence at his counsel’s request. He submitted through Advocate Adnan Karim that he obtained a diploma in cardiology from the Vienna University, Austria, in 1988 and joined the Karachi Port Trust as a cardiologist in 2006. He was asked by the KPT to produce a certificate from the PMDC for processing of his promotion case. The council, however, declined to issue him a certificate as the Vienna University had since been ‘de-recognized’. He said four diploma holders of the 1988 batch had been issued the requisite certificates by the PMDC.
The PMDC said in its reply that the four certificates mentioned by the petitioner were issued before the withdrawal of the Vienna University’s recognition. The council was bound by the Higher Education Commission’s decision in this regard and could not issue a certificate in respect of a certificate or degree awarded by an institution not recognized by the HEC.
The KPT said that being a statutory body, it was bound by the conditions prescribed by the law. It could not proceed with the petitioner’s case without a certificate from the PMDC as required by the law. The petitioner’s counsel sought time to file rejoinders to the PMDC and KPT comments and the bench adjourned the hearing to a date in office.
Kidney Hill Park
A division bench consisting of Justices Munib Ahmed Khan and Syed Pir Ali Shah adjourned the Kidney Hill park case after detailed but inconclusive arguments. The non-governmental organization Shehri has challenged the compromise between the federal, provincial and city governments on the one hand and the allottee Overseas Co-operative Housing Society on the other sanctioned by the Supreme Court. Shehri challenged the compromise as it was not a party to the proceedings. It said the compromise has effectively curtailed the park area from 50 to 20 acres. Twenty acres each had been set aside for the housing society and hospital, roads, water reservoir and other facilities.
The counsel representing the governments and the housing society said the entire area was never formally declared an amenity plot. Some of it has already been encroached upon during the prolonged litigation initiated by the housing society, which claims that the entire area was allotted to it. The compromise, they said, was aimed at terminating the long pending dispute and save at least 40 acres for park and other infrastructural facilities. The status quo would have further stalled the development of a park.
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