November 6, 2001	Tuesday	Shaba’an 19, 1422

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

ISLAMABAD, Nov 5: A Supreme Court bench on Monday reserved judgment on an appeal of Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, a PPP leader, against the Lahore High Court’s majority decision to set aside the judgment in which the editor of an Urdu newspaper was asked to pay Rs 3 million as damages to him.

The case which started 24 years ago, finally concluded when the bench, after hearing Advocates, Raja Anwar, Mareen Anwar, Raja Shafqat Abbasi and Fazal-i-Hussain, counsel for the respondents, reserved the judgment.

Sheikh Rashid had filed a suit for damages in 1977 when Nawa-i-Waqt published a statement, attributed to Naveed Malik, saying that the PPP leader was insane and had been dismissed as a lowly staffer of the revenue department on corruption charges.

The Pakistan People’s Party leader won the case at the civil court, which directed the newspaper editor to pay Rs3 million to the plaintiff for damaging his reputation.

The LHC, at the appeal stage, set aside the civil court’s decision by a 2-1.

The minority judge who had upheld the civil court decision had increased the amount of damages from Rs3 million to Rs5 million.

The SC bench, which reserved the judgment on Monday, consisted of Justice Sheikh Riaz Ahmad, Justice Mian Ajmal and Justice Syed Deedar Hussain Shah.

The Supreme Court asked the President of Supreme Court Bar Association, Hamid Khan, to settle the dispute between Sukkar, Larkana, Jacobabad and Dadu Bar Associations over the jurisdcition of Sindh High Court’s circuit bench at Larkana.

The bench comprised Chief Justice Irshad Hasan Khan, Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Arif and Justice Qazi Muhammad Farooq.

Additional Advocate-General of Sindh Salman Habibullah withdrew his objections on the petition and agreed before the court that the matter would be negotiated mutually between the Bar associations.

President of Supreme Court Bar Association will convene the meeting and also invite Advocate-General of Sindh and the Presidents of four Bar associations to sort out the issues involved in the case.

The Supreme Court Bar would present a report till last week of Dec 4.

District Bar Association Jaccobabad has moved the apex court under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, challenging the placement of Jacobobad district in the jurisdiction of Larkana circuit bench of the SHC.