HYDERABAD: The Hydera­bad circuit bench of the Sindh High Court on Friday issued non-bailable warrants (NBWs) for returning officer for NA-220 (Hyderabad city) for showing “disobedience to the court”.

The division bench comprising Justices Kausar Sultana and Khadim Hussain Soomro passed the order on a constitutional petition filed by Faisal Mughal, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-backed inde Investigation into Jamshoro powerhouse blaze begins today pendent candidate for NA-220, who had challenged the election result.

He stated in the petition that he had filed an application with the RO to seek certified copies of the documents as mentioned in his application but the required documents were not provided to him.

He asked the court to issue directives to the RO, who was mentioned as respondent No2 in the petition, to provide him certified copies of the documents.

When the court took up the matter on Thursday the RO Jahangir Amir, who was present along with his counsel Arshad Pathan, vowed that he would submit the certified copies to the court by 2pm.

The court heard the petition again but neither the RO nor his counsel turned up and district election commissioner (DEC) told the court that he tried to contact the RO but found his cell phone switched-off. The staff at the RO office informed him that the officer did not come to the office that day, he said.

The court pointed out that the RO’s conduct, besides being contempt of court on his part, was also an act of disobedience to the court’s directives.

The court thereafter issued NBWs against him to be executed through SSP “who shall cause his arrest and produce him before court on Friday”. The court also issued show-cause notice to the officer directing him to explain why contempt of court proceedings might not be initiated against him, and adjourned the matter till Friday 9.30am.

On Friday, Latifabad DSP submitted to the court that he went to serve NBWs on the RO but he did not find him at his house. It was learnt that he was admitted to Civil Hospital Hyderabad. Later, it was revealed the RO had been shifted to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Disea­ses Kara­chi in serious condition, he said.

The DSP sought time to execute the NBWs. The court made the DSP’s report part of the record with directives to him to execute the warrants when the RO was discharged from the hospital and produce him in the court.

The judges directed office of the court to prepare a separate file with regard to the NBWs proceedings against the RO and the show-cause notice issued to him pursuant to March 21 order and attach the file with the main case file for further proceedings.

In compliance with the March 21 order, the DEC filed certified copies of the documents mentioned in the petitioner’s application and submitted that the petitioner should be directed to file an application with Election Commission of Pakistan. The petitioner’s counsel undertook to file the application and the court adjourned the hearing to March 25.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2024