KARACHI, March 5: A division bench of the Sindh High Court reserved judgment on a writ petition moved by seven senior civil judges-cum-additional sessions judges against direct appointment of 25 lawyers as senior civil judges in the province in 1996.
The petitioners said they were inducted into the lower grade of the Sindh Judicial Service as civil judges and first class magistrates in 1992 after a minimum of three years’ practice at the bar and before the enforcement of the Sindh Judicial Service Rules, 1994, rules were framed to regulate appointments, promotions and other service matters relating to the judicial officers serving in the province.
The rules provided for direct appointment only to the lower grade of civil judges and judicial magistrates and, to the extent of one third of the vacancies, of additional district and sessions judges. Senior civil judges were to be appointed by promotion from among the serving civil judges and judicial magistrates on the recommendation of the provincial selection board but if no suitable judge of the lower grade was available, they could be appointed directly by way of initial recruitment.
The petitioners’ grievance is that as many as 25 senior civil judges were inducted in 1996 by an acting SHC chief justice by initial appointment in the presence of suitable civil judges.
The respondent judges rejoined that the petition had been filed six years after the impugned appointments and was, therefore, liable to be dismissed on ground of inordinate delay. The vacancies were exclusively meant for practising lawyers and they had since been promoted under the rules on the basis of their competence as judicial officers.
The division bench, which consisted of Justices Mohammad Roshan Essani and Anwar Zaheer Jamali, reserved order after hearing advocates Shoaib M. Ashraf, Rashid A. Razvi and other lawyers for the petitioners and respondents and AAG Sarwar Khan for the Sindh government. The attorney-general was represented by Deputy Attorney-General Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui.
GHOUS CASE: The bail granted to former chief minister and defence minister Ghous Ali Shah by the Sindh High Court is liable to be cancelled by the trial court for his failure to appear in a accountability reference against him, an SHC division bench declared on Wednesday.
The ex-CM was being tried by the Accountability Court No 1 of Qamaruddin Bohra, since relieved, who had denied him bail.
The high court admitted him to bail and allowed him to go abroad for treatment in July 2002. The trial was stalled by his absence and the accountability court made a reference to the high court about cancellation of the bail.
Assisting the court, Deputy Attorney-General Azhar Nadeem Siddiqui submitted that the lower courts were fully empowered to cancel a bail order made by the high court if an accused failed to discharge his obligation to face the trial. The bond executed by the accused who skipped bail was liable to be forfeited.
A division bench, comprising Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and S. Aslam Ali Jafri, observed that the bail was granted subject to the ex-CM’s appearance before the trial court.
On his failure to face trial, the bail could be cancelled and warrants issued for his arrest. The bench asked the accused to appear personally or through a lawyer before the trial court on April 3 and record his statement under Section 342 of the criminal procedure code. The statement is recorded after conclusion of the prosecution evidence.
Ghous Ali Shah is an accused in a reference pertaining to recruitment of 122 officials in the Civil Aviation Authority in his capacity as defence minister. His counsel Arshad Jadoon and Faheem Riaz informed the court that he was undergoing treatment in a London hospital and his final check-up was due on April 3, after which a decision on his return could be taken.
PETROL PUMP: The Sindh High Court restrained the city government on Wednesday from interfering with the construction of a petrol service station or the operations of a petrol pump in front of the Safari Park.
The petitioners’ counsel, K.M. Nadeem, submitted before a division bench, comprising Justices Mohammad Roshan Essani and Anwar Zaheer Jamali, that the city government was asked to file its comments on the petition but it failed to do so and sought adjournments four times. An interim order was essential to protect the petitioner from irreversible loss pending the proceedings.
Meanwhile, Justice Zahid Kurban Alavi allowed two plaintiffs to raise double-storeyed structures for residential purposes only on the six plots allotted to them in Block 5 of Clifton by the KDA in 1994. An objection was taken by the adjoining British Consulate that the allottees, Mohammad Sadiq and Ms Yasmin, were out to construct multi-storeyed commercial buildings on the plots, which measure 50 square yards each. The KDA and the KBCA stopped the construction work following the objection and the allottees instituted suits against the authorities and the consulate.
The court ordered that the structures on the five plots should strictly conform to the law and rules.
BAIL GRANTED: The Sindh High Court has granted bail to Mehtab Alam, Khursheed Hassan Burney and Aminuddin, employees of the United Bank, pending trial on opening a fake account, provided they deposit the amount involved with the Nazir of High Court without prejudice to their pleas and furnishing a surety of Rs4,090,458 by each applicant with a PR bond of the like amount, adds PPI.
A division bench of Sindh High Court, comprising Justice Shabbir Ahmed and Justice Azizullah M. Memon, granted bail to them after hearing their advocate Nafees Siddiqi and Deputy Attorney General Khursheed A. Hashmi.
The allegations against the applicants are that they opened a fake account on a fake national identity card and bogus introduction of Mohammad Ahmed.
Two stolen cheques of the Kaghan Trading Company, bearing forged signatures of its partner, Mohammad Ahmed, drawn on MCB for Rs4,090,458 were deposited for collection in the aforesaid account, and on receipt of proceeds, the entire amount was withdrawn through a cheque on June 1, 2001, by accused Waheed Niazi.
The allegation against co-accused Zahid Mughal and Khawaja Rasheeduddin of the MCB Clifton branch is that they cleared cheques knowingly they contained fake signatures of the account holder.
Nafees Siddiqi, advocate, argued that his clients were entitled to bail as co-accused Zahid Mughal and Khawaja Rasheeduddin, placed in a similar situation, were released on bail by the Sindh High Court vide an order on Feb 20. He contended that the applicants are willing to deposit the amount involved in court.
DAG Khursheed Hashmi opposed bail applications contending that the fake account was opened by forging signature of the introducer i.e. complainant, and three cheques
allegedly stolen were presented in the account and proceeds collected through clearance. He conceded for grant of bail on the basis of rules laid down in Shumraiz Khan vs The State (supra).
