KARACHI, Oct 31: A division bench consisting of Justices Mrs Qaiser Iqbal and Syed Mahmood Alam Rizvi of the Sindh High Court allowed protective bail to Malir Development Authority director-general Ameerzada Khan Kohati till November 20 in the sum of Rs1 million.
The DG is named as an accused in a National Accountability Bureau reference alleging that he, in connivance with the developer of the Garden City residential-cum-commercial project and others, transferred the land allocated to the Greater Karachi Bulk Water Supply Scheme in 2004 and thereby caused a huge loss to the public exchequer. An accountability court is seized of the reference and the bench allowed the interim bail without going into the merits of the case.
Bachat bazaar plea dismissed
Another division bench consisting of Justices Azizullah M. Memon and Syed Pir Ali Shah dismissed a petition moved by the organiser of the Sunday Bachat Bazaar in Block 7 of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, University Road. Petitioner Abdul Aziz said he had been organizing the bazaar for the last 20 years after regularly paying the dues to municipal authorities.
The town municipal and police officers submitted in response to court queries that the bazaar caused public nuisance as it impeded smooth flow of traffic. The bazaar had been shut for valid and lawful reasons and the petitioner had no cause of action.
Order reserved
The bench comprising Justices Mrs Qaiser Iqbal and S.M.A. Rizvi, meanwhile, reserved its order on a petition moved by Mian Aftab Ahmed, accused in a NAB reference, for quashment of proceedings against him. The petitioner said he migrated to the United Kingdom permanently in 1995 and renounced his Pakistani citizenship in 2001. Yet the accountability court trying a reference against him and his brothers Mian Gulzar Ahmed and Mian Munir Ahmed issued a warrant for his arrest and declared him a proclaimed offender.The petitioner said and his brothers were directors of the Shahryar Textile Mills, which went into liquidation in 1984. The creditor bank, Habib Credit and Exchange Bank, moved for its winding up and he was discharged of all his liabilities. According to the reference, Mian Aftab and his brothers were in willful default of a loan amounting to Rs4.35 million.
Meanwhile, another bench consisting of Justices Mohammad Athar Saeed and Dr Qamarduddin Bohra adjourned the Pakistan International Airline’s plea against the imposition of import duty on the planes hired by it from other airlines for Haj operations.
Appearing for the petitioner, Advocate Khalid Jawaid Khan argued that the planes had not been purchased but had been acquired on lease to ensure a smooth operation. They had been repainted only for the convenience of the intending pilgrims to clearly identify them.
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