KARACHI, March 8: A Sindh High Court judge has allowed liquidation of a food manufacturing concern and appointed the court's official assignee as liquidator.

The liquidation petition was moved by a former chief executive of the company, Ahmed Food Industries (Pvt) Limited.

He said the company has defaulted on repayment of a loan that he had guaranteed. The company said in its rejoinder that the petitioner was not a decree-holder and had misappropriated its funds during his stint as chief executive and director.

Declaring the petitioner "a contingent creditor" who could sue for the liquidation, Justice Amir Hani Muslim observed that the dispute was confined to the ability of the company to discharge its debt. The balance-sheets for two successive years sufficiently establish "the uncertain economic viability" of the company.

Allowing the petition, the judge ordered that the liquidator shall take charge of the assets, accounts and management of the company. Advocate Shabbir Ahmed Shaikh appeared for petitioner, Zafar Mehmood Shaikh, and Advocate Saalim Salam Ansari for the respondent company.

SALE OF HOTEL: The Sindh High Court has allowed the company owning Hotel Metropole to proceed with negotiations for its sale but asked the owner to obtain court approval before finalization of the deal.

Mrs Meher Robinton Minwalla disputes Darayas Cyrus Minwalla's entitlement to the entire sale proceeds. A British national, she obtained a decree from a British court declaring that she was entitled to "not less than 50 per cent of the price".

Justice Mushir Alam observed in an order early last week that though the parties were at variance, Mr Minwalla was admittedly a shareholder of M/s Karachi Properties Investment (Pvt) Limited, which owns the hotel.

Harmonizing previous orders in a suit and an execution application relating to the disposal of the property, the judge passed a consent order allowing the owner company to continue to negotiate its sale. However, court approval should be obtained "before finalization of any deal". The arrangement shall remain effective till the next date, that is, March 29. Advocates Kamaluddin Azfar appeared for Mr Minwalla, Salahuddin Ahmed for the company and Zahid Jamil for Mrs Minwalla.

AWARD OF CONTRACT: The Sindh High Court asked the Karachi Port Trust on Tuesday to explain the award of a contract for construction of a bulk terminal on build-operate-and-transfer basis.

A bidder, M/s Transworld, moved a contempt application through Advocates Abdul Hafeez Pirzada and Afzal Siddiqui, alleging that the KPT submitted an evasive reply in response to its petition.

It alleged that the contract was finalized in favour of another bidder while the petition was being heard by the court and KPT had given an assurance that all matters pertaining to the contract would be conducted in a transparent manner.

Chief Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad and Justice Maqbool Baqar, who constituted the bench seized of the contempt plea, asked the KPT chairman and two officials to appear on April 7 and explain the trust's position vis-à-vis the court proceedings and the award of contract. Deputy Attorney-General Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui was asked to clarify the stand of the Ministry of Ports and Shipping.