KARACHI, May 16: The Sindh High Court stayed on Thursday operation of a controversial order pertaining to shifting of the Central Archaeological Library and Antiquities from Karachi to Lahore and put all the respondents on notice for May 23.
The order was passed when the petition filed by eight eminent citizens of Sindh came up for preliminary hearing before a division bench comprising the Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court, Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad, and Justice Ghulam Rabbani.
When the matter was taken up, Iqbal Haider, senior advocate, and Sirajul Haque, advocate, who is also one of the petitioners, challenged the order of the deputy director of the archaeology department and contended that the official had no jurisdiction to do so.
After hearing brief arguments, the court put deputy attorney-general and the advocate-general Sindh on notice for May 23.
The petitioners are Fahim Zaman Khan, Professor Riazul Islam, Sirajul Haque, Amar Jaleel, Dr Mohammed Suleman Shaikh, Mrs Shehnaz Ismail, Shaikh Khursheed Hasan and Bader Abro.
The Government of Pakistan, through the Secretary Ministry of Sports, Culture & Tourism, Islamabad; Director-General of the Department of Archaeology & Museum, Al-Asif Plaza, Shaheed-i-Millat Road, Karachi; Deputy Director (ADMN), Department of Archaeology, Al-Asif Plaza, Government of Sindh, through its Secretary Department of Culture, Tourism, Sports & Social Welfare, Sindh Secretariat, Karachi, are respondents in addition to the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization, (Unesco) (Proforma Respondent).
The shifting order had generated bitter controversy at various levels, the petitioners maintained and contended that the impugned order was in utter disregard of, and disrespect to, a decision of the federal government to decentralize.
According to them, officials of the respondent No 2, through an Office Order No 20A/1/93-ARCH (ADMN) dated May 3, respondent No 3 Mohammed Younus Daar, Deputy Director of the Department of Archaeology, issued instructions purportedly under the advice of the respondent No 1 to the officers and the officials of the two branches, ie, Publication and P & D of the Department at Karachi to pack thousands of books of the Library and more than 150,000 antiquities along with the office equipment, fixtures and fittings for shifting from Karachi to the Lahore Fort, on or before May 15.
The said two branches were under the office of the respondent No 1 who administered and controlled the Library and Antiquities located in Hafiz Plaza on Sharea Faisal, Karachi, opposite the offices of the respondent No 2. Hence the transfer of the two branches meant and included shifting of the Library and the Antiquities as well as more than 115 officers and employees of various grades performing their duties in the office of the respondent No 2.
In pursuance of the aforesaid impugned order of May 3, officers and other employees of the respondent No 2 began the process of packing books, antiquities and assets of their office as well as their personal belongings for transfer from Karachi to the Lahore Fort.
On or about May 6, the respondent No 2, ie, the Director-General of the Department of Archaeology and Museum at Karachi had issued instructions to the Deputy Director of Archaeology at Lahore to make room in the Lahore Fort to accommodate his two branches as well as thousands of books of the Central Archaeological Library and Antiquities which were properly catalogued, preserved and maintained at Karachi. He had instructed to arrange for office space in the Lahore Fort and residential accommodation in Lahore for the families of more than 115 officers and employees of his (respondent No 2).
On or about May 7, the respondent No 2 requested the respondent No 1 to issue a formal notification for the shifting of his offices from Karachi to Lahore so that necessary account could be opened with the AGPR sub-office at Lahore for the release of pay and allowances and other financial liabilities. In the said letter the respondent No 2 had also sought approval and release of Rs3,524,000 to meet the expenses for shifting, as no funds were available with his office for such a big expenditure.
It was the petitioners’ case that the impugned orders had been issued by the respondent Nos 3 & 2 without any jurisdiction or lawful authority, in violation of the Rules of Business of the Government of Pakistan.
The respondent Nos 1 to 3 had no lawful power or authority to issue any order or instruction in violation of or repugnant to the earlier decisions of the federal government taken in 1995-96 and in 1998, whereby the proposed shifting of the offices of the respondent No 2, Library and Antiquities had not been authorized by the competent authorities, the petitioners contended.
It was also their contention that the impugned decisions were directly in conflict with, and contrary to, the decision and policy specified by the federal government, in 1998, to decentralize the administration and control of the protected archaeological sites and to hand over the same to the respective provincial governments for protection through their own department of archaeology. Even the present government was pursuing the same decision and policy.
It was the petitioners’ contention that the undue haste shown by the respondent Nos 1 to 3 in shifting of the offices, libraries and antiquities exposed their ulterior motives.
