KARACHI: SHC throws out contempt plea
KARACHI, Jan 20: A division bench of the Sindh High Court consisting of Justices Khilji Arif Hussain and Arshad Noor Khan on Tuesday dismissed a contempt plea against the criminal prosecution branch for not issuing appointment letters to the prosecutors selected by the Sindh Public Service Commission.
The petitioner candidates said the court had ordered the prosecution branch and the provincial government in November 2008 that even if appointments letters were not issued within a month of the direction, the petitioners would become entitled to receive their salaries. Neither appointment letters have been issued nor their salaries released, the petitioners complained, seeking prosecution of the authorities concerned for contempt of court.
Assistant Advocate-General Adnan Karim Memon appeared for the provincial government and informed the bench that the Sindh government has challenged the high court’s decision in the Supreme Court, which has stayed the operation of the impugned order to see whether the chief minister is empowered to reject the SPSC’s recommendations in his discretion and consider other issues involved. The respondents could not be charged with non-compliance of the court order, the AAG said. The bench dismissed the plea as ‘frivolous’.
Return of seized gold
Another division bench comprising Justices Mohammad Athar Saeed and Syed Mahmood Alam Rizvi asked Advocate Saathi M. Ishaque to advance arguments that his client Laila Isa’s petition was not barred by laches or the law of limitation.
Petitioner Laila Isa says that 1330 grams of gold was recovered by a customs raiding party under a martial law regulation in 1970. The authorities alleged that the gold was smuggled and arrested his mother and two brothers. The detainees were tried by a military court, which convicted and sentenced them. The conviction and sentences were set aside by the high court. The acquitted accused have since died but the seized gold remained in the custody of the customs department as ‘case property’. She requested the court to ask the department to return the gold to her as she was legal heir to the owners of the illegally seized bullion.
The bench asked the petitioner’s counsel to show that the petition did not suffer from inordinate delay and adjourned the hearing to February 10.
UTS buses
The bench consisting of Justices K.A. Hussain and A.N. Khan, meanwhile, restrained a leasing concern from creating third-party interest in two urban transport service buses seized by it from a transport company.
The petitioner company submitted through Advocate Saalim Salim Ansari that the buses (No JB-0717 and JB-0718) were forcibly taken away from the respondent leasing concern. Issuing notices to the respondents, the bench restrained them from creating third party interest in the vehicles.
The same bench, meanwhile, ordered to maintain status quo in respect of alleged out-of-turn promotions in the irrigation and power department and adjourned the hearing till Feb 3, adds PPI.
Petitioner Waqar Ahmed Qadri and 25 others challenged the alleged out-of-turn promotions, citing chief secretary, secretary power and irrigation, and Executive Engineer Mohammad Faheem Soomro as respondents.
The petitioners’ counsel, Mujeeb Pirzada, submitted that his clients worked as assistant executive engineers. In June 2008, the secretary power and irrigation allowed out-of-turn promotions, which deprived the petitioners of their legal right.