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KARACHI, Oct 21: Justice Ataur Rehman of Sindh High Court on Tuesday reserved judgment on a miscellaneous application filed by the owners of the Greece-registered oil tanker Tasman Spirit and another vessel Endeavor-II against the arrest of the vessels the applicants completed their arguments.
The counsel for the owners, Muhammad Naeem, submitted before the court that since Tasman Spirit had reduced to wreckage, it was no longer a ship liable to be arrested. The Endeavor-II should also be released simultaneously as 36,000 tonnes of the crude oil retrieved from Tasman Spirit through the Endeavor-II had been shifted to Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL), he added.
The two vessels, the counsel told the court, belonged to different owners and were registered in two different countries — Greece and Malta.
While the counsel for the KPT, Sumayya Usmani, concluded arguments, the application was opposed by another counsel Faez Essa who told the court that both the ships were owned by same party. He mentioned that same attorney was appointed by the owners for defence in the suit proceedings.
A suit was filed by the Central Insurance, EFU General Insurance, Adamjee Insurance, New Jubilee Insurance, Habib Insurance and New Hampshire Insurance in the SHC against the two vessels and their owners — M/s Assimina Maritime and M/s Andros Maritime for a recovery of Rs883.296 million under admiralty jurisdiction of High Court Ordinance 1980 on account of ‘negligence by the defendants’.
The vessels had been arrested and berthed at Karachi port following SHC’s order on Sept 6, 2003.
ATTACHMENT ORDERED: Justice Ataur Rehman of the Sindh High Court on Tuesday ordered attachment of mini bus (JE-6513) on application filed by Qamarunisa Sultan for recovery of damages, while directing the Nabi Bux police station to confine the vehicle till further court’s order.
The court also directed the Excise and Taxation department to not to transfer the papers of the vehicle without court’s permission.
The plaintiff, through her counsel Nasir Maqsood, filed suit against the mini bus owner and driver for recovery of Rs4.32 million as compensation on account of death of her son, Shah Mir Sultan, due to negligence committed by defendants. According to plaint, Shah Mir was going to his office, situated at City Courts, by his motorcycles on May 11, 1999, as the speedy bus of route W-11 crushed him to death.
OMAR CASE: A division bench of the Sindh High Court, comprising Justice Ghulam Nabi Soomro and Justice Muhammad Sadiq Leghari, on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of the appeal by Ahmed Omar Sheikh and others challenging their conviction by an Anti Terrorism Court in the Denial Pearl kidnapping and murder case, as the defence counsels could not turn up before the court.
The defence counsels, Rai Bashir and Abdul Rehman Katpar, were not present at the time of hearing due to some personal reasons and the court was requested to adjourn the matter. The court fixed November 19 for the next hearing.—PPI
