15 January 2004	Thursday	22 Ziqa'ad 1424

KARACHI, Jan 14: The Sindh Service Tribunal reinstated on Wednesday eight highway engineers sacked in 2002 for incompetence, negligence and inefficiency in supervising the construction of a Dadu bypass.

A tribunal bench comprising its chairman, Justice Abdul Ghani Shaikh (retd), and members Yusuf Ali Mirza and Noor Ahmed Shaikh observed that no proper inquiry was held into the charges against the officials and the impugned dismissal orders were based merely on their replies. Setting aside the orders, it declared that the Communication and Works Department (since renamed Services and Works Department) would be well within its power to institute a proper inquiry under the efficiency and discipline rules.

XEN Kazi Ghulam Mustafa; assistant engineers Syed Anwar Shah, Mukhtar Ahmed and M. Munir Abbasi; and sub-engineers Fida Hussain, Abdul Basat Soomro and Ejaz Ahmad were held responsible for the faulty construction of the bypass, which wore out soon after its completion. According to the charge sheet, they failed to ensure proper execution of the project and verify the quality of work.

Representing the appellant engineers, Advocates M. Nawaz Shaikh, Aqil Awan, Haider Qureshi and Ghulam Sarwar Chandio submitted that the bypass caved in due to structural defects, for which they were not responsible. The design was prepared by a former XEN and the specifications were unduly changed by the chief engineer's office for the sake of economy. The design was not adequate for the quantum of traffic the road was meant to serve.

The lawyers also argued that no government employee could be dismissed from service without an inquiry conducted under the efficiency and discipline rules.