KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Thursday directed the chairmen of district municipal corporations of Central and West to submit their replies to a contempt petition filed against them for not releasing the salaries of blind teachers despite the court’s orders.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Irfan Saadat Khan issued the directive during the hearing of the petition and miscellaneous applications moved by six blind teachers — Ms Sana Daniyal, Ms Shahnaz Begum, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Suleman, Peer Hussain and Naseer Ahmed.

The judges expressed grave concern and displeasure when they were informed that one of the female teachers had died due to non-payment of her salary.

The blind teachers, represented by advocate Nadim Shaikh, requested the court to initiate contempt of court proceedings against the authorities concerned for not releasing their pending salaries despite the SHC’s earlier orders.

Issuing notices to the chairmen of the municipal corporations, the bench directed them to submit their respective replies by July 12.

The petitioners said that they had been appointed on contract in the KMC’s education department on disabled persons’ quota and were working as teachers in different schools of the city. They said their contracts had expired last year and they filed applications for their renewal but kept performing their duty with dedication even after the expiry of their contracts.

“The KMC had extended our contracts four months after their expiry and started our salaries from the period when these were renewed, but the department did not release our salaries which were withheld after the expiry of contracts,” the disabled teachers said.

Nadra official given bail

Another bench of the high court granted bail to a superintendent of a National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) centre in a case pertaining to issuance of 77 fake computerised national identity cards.

The two-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammed Karim Khan Agha gave Salamullah bail against a surety bond of Rs500,000.

The bench had on Tuesday reserved its verdict on the bail application after hearing final arguments from the applicant’s counsel and the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) law officer.

The Nadra official denied the charges levelled against him and submitted that these were baseless. “I have nothing to do with the issuance of fake CNICs and, therefore, my bail plea should be approved.”

The applicant’s counsel contended that his client was entitled to bail because the prosecution had not brought on record any solid evidence against him despite a lapse of one year.

The FIA’s law officer, however, opposed the bail application and said the final charge-sheet of the case had been submitted to the trial court and there was ample evidence against the accused. He said the applicant was involved in issuing fake CNICs to aliens, including Iranians and Afghans.

According to the FIA, Salamullah had issued fake CNICs to 77 people, including foreigners. There were sufficient evidences against him and, therefore, his bail application should be dismissed, the FIA maintained.

Earlier, another bench had dismissed the bail plea of another Nadra officer, Hassam Hamid, in a case pertaining to the issuance of 77 fake CNICs to illegal immigrants.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2017