KARACHI, Oct 17: The Sindh Local Government Commission was not only functioning but has already decided 33 cases, a provincial government law officer stated before a division bench of the Sindh High Court on Friday.
Assistant Advocate-General Adnan Karim was contesting a petition moved by the Larkana taluka nazim, Qurban Ali Abbasy, against his suspension by Chief Minister Syed Qasim Ali Shah.
The petitioner had submitted through Advocate Abdul Mujib Pirzada that the local government commission mandated by the Sindh Local Government Ordinance had not been constituted and that he had been suspended for 90 days without an inquiry, show-cause notice or opportunity of hearing. He had been duly elected by the union council chairman of the Larkana taluka and could not be removed arbitrarily without adopting the due process of law. He said he was being victimized by his political rivals.
AAG Adnan Memon said the CM was duly empowered by the law to suspend the petitioner. No departure was made from the prescribed procedure and there were allegations of corruption against the petitioner.
The petition was being heard by a division bench comprising Justices Mohammad Athar Saeed and Arshad Noor Khan but the latter expressed his inability to continue the hearing. It was marked by the chief justice to another bench consisting of Justices Azizullah M. Memon and Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, which fixed October 24 as the new date of hearing.
AKU appeal
The bench comprising Justices Memon and Khwaja, meanwhile, adjourned the hearing of an Aga Khan University appeal against a single judge’s interim order setting aside a student’s expulsion from the institution to save his academic career.
The appellant university said in its appeal that Kashif Anwar, a third year MBBS students of the Aga Khan Medical College, was a co-accused in a case involving the death of another student by excessive inhaling of heroin on Sept 16, 2004. He was named in the FIR of the incident as a procurer of the drug and it would greatly harm discipline if such students were allowed to continue their studies.
Appearing for the respondent, Advocate Salahuddin Ahmed submitted that another student involved in the incident and named in the FIR was let off by the university. The respondent was innocent and he approached the high court after exhausting all remedies. The impugned interim order of October 5, 2007, was rightly passed to save his academic career pending the adjudication of the suit instituted by him against his expulsion. He sought adjournment to bring some documents on record and the bench adjourned further hearing to October 21.
Mengal’s plea disposed of
The bench also disposed of as not pressed former Balochistan chief minister Sardar Akhtar Mengal’s plea against his jail trial for army personnel’s kidnapping in 2006. The petitioner had challenged Section 15 of the Anti-Terrorist Act that empowered the provincial government t to conduct trials in jails as repugnant to the constitutional guarantee of equality. He said the provision was discriminatory and offended against the dignity of man.
Advocate Rasheed A. Razvi, counsel for the petitioner, against whom the government recently withdrew all charges and terminated all but one case, did not press the petition as it came up for hearing and the bench disposed it of accordingly.
Cases quashed
Another bench consisting of Justices Khilji Arif Hussain and Qamaruddin Bohra ordered quashment of three FIRs lodged by the relatives of a free-will marriage couple. Sikandar Ali and Aziz Bano submitted that they married of their free will but against the wishes of their families in May 2008. Their relatives instituted bogus criminal cases against them involving kidnapping and elopement. The petitioners said they were being harassed by police.
Malir UTP summoned
By another order, the bench asked the superintendent of the Mali jail to produce under-trial prisoner Mohammad Yasin on Nov 12. Yasin said in his petition that he was being tried in a narcotics case but the trial special court had made no progress despite lapse of 14 months. He claimed that no witness had so far been examined in the case. He was suffering from hepatitis and other ailments, for which no adequate treatment was available in the jail.
Appeal admitted
The bench comprising Justices M.A. Saeed and A.N. Khan, meanwhile, admitted an appeal moved by accused Faiq Ahmad against his conviction and punishment in a kidnapping-cum-murder case. He was accused of kidnapping Sikandar Ismail from Federal ‘B’ Area and murdering him after receiving an amount of Rs1 million as ransom. An Anti-terrorism court found him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs1 million.
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