KARACHI, Jan 28: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday asked the provincial home department to submit a report on the construction of separate prisons for juvenile offenders and the district and sessions judges to furnish information on the trial of cases under the juvenile justice system.

A division bench comprising Justices Khilji Arif Hussain and Arshad Noor Khan was informed in suo motu proceedings that two prisons adjacent to the central prisons in Karachi and Hyderabad were functional while the provincial government had been approached for construction of one jail each at every district headquarters in the province.

The new prisons or blocks would be constructed adjacent to the district jails, additional home secretary Kamran Dost and a prisons department official informed the bench.

He said 723 juvenile offenders were lodged at the Karachi and Hyderabad jails. Seven of them were convicts while the rest were under trial. The bench asked the officials to submit a report within two weeks on the progress of the requisition made to the provincial government.

The district and sessions judges were asked to send reports on the implementation of the juvenile justice system in their districts within two weeks so that directions could be issued for removal of bottlenecks, if any, and to improve the enforcement of the juvenile offenders’ law. Further hearing was adjourned to February 24.

The bench directed the office to repeat the notice issued to Samiullah Khan, former deputy inspector-general of police posted at Mirpurkhas. The ex-DIG has moved a petition alleging that a criminal case was registered against him at the behest of IGP Jahangir Mirza. His reputation and service prospects were harmed because of the registration of a bogus case.

Assistant advocate-general Adnan Karim Memon informed the bench that a departmental representation made by the petitioner was being considered.

Islamia College case

Justice Arshad Noor Khan, meanwhile, excused himself from hearing a provincial government appeal in respect of the Islamic Education Trust as he had dealt with the matter as a judicial officer. A single judge had dismissed a government suit against the trust mismanagement for non-prosecution. The government moved an appeal against the dismissal of the suit.

The appellant government says that the properties attached to the Islamia College and other institutions set up by the trust were taken over by the government under the Martial Law Regulation 118 in 1972. The appeal is being contested on behalf of the trust, which says that the appeal is not maintainable.

The case would be referred to the chief justice for constitution of another bench to hear it.

FPCCI polls

Another division bench consisting of Justices Azizullah M. Memon and Abdul Rahman Faruq Pirzada adjourned to Thursday the hearing of a petition moved by Sultan Ahmed Chawla against the direction of the Directorate-general of Trade Organizations (DTO) for postponement of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) polls.

Advocate Abid S. Zuberi, counsel for the petitioner, said Mr Chawla had already been elected unopposed as president of the FPCCI. Six vice-presidents had also been elected. Balloting for other office-bearers, including vice-presidents from the NWFP and Balochistan, would be conducted on Jan 30 and the electoral process could not be interfered with at this stage, the counsel said. Once an election committee had been constituted and election schedule announced, balloting could not be stayed, he argued.

Deputy Attorney-General Amer Raza Naqvi submitted on behalf of the ministry of commerce that the DTO was fully empowered to intervene at any stage of the election process to ensure transparency. He said the impugned direction was issued to facilitate the participation of all duly registered and accredited trade organizations, which had been excluded from the election process. He requested the bench to stay the balloting.

Qadirpur gas-field

The bench also announced an order reserved by another bench comprising Justices A.M. Memon and Khalid Ali Z. Qazi in a petition challenging the award of gas compression contract to a Chinese company by the Oil and Gas Development Corporation. The petition was initially filed by OGDCL shareholder Zafar Mehmood Malik but later joined by a prospective bidder. The petitioners alleged that the award of contract was tainted with irregularities and involved ‘kickbacks’. The bench rejected the contention and upheld the transaction.

Medical record

Justice Gulzar Ahmed, meanwhile, asked the court nazir to obtain copies of the record pertaining to patient Saba Sadiq, daughter of Chaudhry Sher Mohammad, from the Aga Khan University Hospital. A copy of the entire record is to be retained by the nazir and another copy would be furnished to the patient/plaintiff.

The plaintiff alleges negligence by the AKUH doctors in conducting her open-heart surgery and demands damages from them and the hospital authorities through Advocate Aga Zafar Ahmed.

Credit card

Justice Amir Hani Muslim restrained the Jackson police from harassing petitioner Momina Begum and her daughter. The petitioner had complained through Advocate Abdul Qayyum Abbasi that her son obtained credit cards from three banks and left the country without settling his accounts. The bank staff and agents were harassing her and her daughter in clear violation of the law and the guidelines laid down by the State Bank for recovery of outstanding dues on account of personal loans.

The police were not only not entertaining their complaint but were actively aiding and abetting the offending staff and agents in causing harassment.

Disposing of the petition, the court restrained the police and asked the respondent banks to act strictly in accordance with the recovery law and SBP guidelines.