KARACHI, Feb 4: Justice M. Ashraf Leghari of the Sindh High Court dismissed on Tuesday, in his capacity as a member of the Election Commission, appeals by two candidates against rejection of their nomination papers for the upcoming Senate polls.
Appellant Ayaz Malik, who wanted to contest for one of the seats reserved for technocrats, had his papers rejected by the returning officer as he did not fulfil the criterion laid down by the law to qualify as a “technocrat” for the purpose of contesting elections. The RO’s finding was upheld by the EC member.
Former provincial minister Hasan Ali Chandio’s appeal was also dismissed as he was rightly found by the returning officer to have graduated from an institution (the Trinity College and University) not recognized by Pakistan’s University Grants Commission.
Justice Leghari admitted a plea by National Alliance’s Asif Jatoi for review of his order accepting an appeal by PPP’s Zafar Ali Shah against the acceptance of his papers by the returning officer. According to Mr Shah, Mr Jatoi was yet to be conferred his bachelor’s degree by the institution he graduated from — the University of South California, USA. The objection was overruled by the returning officer but upheld by the EC member in appeal.
Along with his review petition, Mr Jatoi attached a certificate from California University’s Annenberg School of Communications. The document certified that Mr Jatoi “has completed all the requirements prescribed for graduation.”
Justice Leghari fixed Thursday for hearing of Mr Jatoi’s review petition.
animal fees: The entry fees in the cattle markets have been drastically reduced to bring them down to a reasonable level, two town committees of Karachi assured the Sindh High Court on Tuesday and the court disposed of a writ petition moved by a cattle merchants welfare association in terms of the assurance.
The Malir and Bin Qasim town committees would now charge Rs5 and Rs10, respectively, for small sacrificial animals like sheep and goats and big animals like camels, cows and buffaloes. The committees, according to the petitioner association, had increased the fees for various animals from a minimum of Re1 to Rs100 for the duration of Zilhij. Their counsel, Muhammad Nawaz Shaikh, submitted on Tuesday that the rates were revised on Jan 16 and the new rates were specified through a new notification superseding the earlier schedules. The rates would remain in force round the year and were not Eid specific, he submitted.
A division bench, comprising Justice S. Ahmad Sarwana and Justice Muhammad Mujibullah Siddiqui, which had earlier stayed the recovery of the fees at the impugned rates, disposed of the petition in terms of the submissions made on behalf of the committees.
notice to city govt: The Sindh High Court issued notice to the City District Government Karachi for Feb 14 on a petrol station concern’s petition alleging harassment.
M/s Shell (Pakistan) and Shell (Safari) submitted in their petition, filed through Advocates K. M. Nadeem, Rizwan Nadeem and Mustafa Hussain, that they had valid documents of title, licence and no-objection certificates issued by competent authorities to operate a petrol pump in Gulshan-i-Iqbal. For reasons known only to them, however, high city government officials were interfering in their business and causing harassment and intimidation by hurling threats of demolition.
Adjourning the case to enable the city government and its officials to submit their comments, the court restrained the respondents from causing any harassment.
appeal: An accountability appellate bench of the Sindh High Court heard on Tuesday appellants’ counsel winding up their case against the conviction of three assistant drug controllers in a reference involving blackmarketing of raw material imported for manufacture of medicines.
According to the National Accountability Bureau, M/s Ahsan Drug Company imported 2.58 million kilograms of raw material. Out of this huge quantity, the manufacturers used only 4,835 kilograms in producing finished medicines. The remaining huge quantity was sold in the market for making a fast buck, depriving the public exchequer of Rs60 million and the ailing humanity of the much-needed medicines.
Assistant drug controllers Abdul Sami Mangiro, Rehmatullah Beg Alvi and Dr Tanvir issued the importer company 226 consumption certificates testifying that the entire consignment of the imported raw material had been used up in making drugs as required by the law and rules.
Accountability Judge Rehmat Hussain Jafferi, since elevated to the high court, convicted the three drug controllers and sentenced them to five years’ prison term each and varying amounts of fine ranging from Rs10 million to Rs30 million.
