24 April 2004	Saturday	03 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

KARACHI, April 23: A traffic sergeant was fined Rs10,000 by the Sindh High Court on Friday for not returning the driving licence of a lawyer despite a judicial magistrate's order.

Advocate Shaukat Hussain Zubedi, a former SHC judge and advocate-general, complained through Advocate Agha Faquir Mohammad that he was issued a traffic violation ticket by ASI Waheed Akhtar when he drove over the zebra crossing in front of Avari Hotel. He told the traffic ASI that the signal had hardly changed from green to amber and he was already reversing his car. The act did not constitute an offence.

The ASI, however, issued him a ticket for Rs100 and seized his licence. The lawyer moved the judicial magistrate concerned and the ASI tendered an unconditional apology in the JM's court. The court ordered the ASI and his immediate superior to cancel the violation ticket and return the seized licence. The officials, however, declined to release the driving licence without payment of fine.

The lawyer moved the high court and Justice Syed Zawwar Hussain Jaffery summoned the ASI. The official was fined Rs 10,000 when he failed to explain why the ticket was not cancelled and the licence released despite a court order. The traffic authorities were restrained from detailing him on field duty for a period of three months. The licence was returned to the petitioner at the hearing as ordered by the court.

PEARLE CASE: The federal government has asked the Punjab government to revert the custody of condemned prisoner Ahmed Omar Sheikh to the Hyderabad jail authorities. Sheikh was convicted and sentenced to death by a Hyderabad anti-terrorism court in the murder case of US journalist Daniel Pearle.

Three other accused were handed down life terms. The convicts and the prosecution moved counter-appeals for acquittal and enhancement of the penalty awarded to the three co-accused.

While the appeals were pending, Sheikh was removed to Punjab. In response to an application moved by his counsel against the transfer of his custody without the court's permission, the federal government submitted that he had been shifted for investigation into another case.

Deputy Attorney-General Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui informed the appellate bench on Friday that the custody had already been ordered to be transferred to the Hyderabad jail by the federal government.

At the request of special prosecutor Raja Qureshi, the bench, comprising Justices Wahid Bux Brohi and Rehmat Hussain Jaferi, issued notice to defence counsel Rai Bashir, who is appearing as one of the appellants, for a date in office.

REGISTRATION: A division bench, comprising Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and Mohammad Afzal Soomro has asked the district registrar of properties on May 11 to appear and explain why properties were being registered without no-objection certificates from the Karachi Building Control Authority.

The order came on a petition submitting that sub-leases and sale deeds were being registered by sub-registrars without KBCA no-objection certificates in respect of compliance with building regulations. The bench had summoned the district registrar for an explanation, but a sub-registrar appeared to clarify the position.

Taking a serious notice of the district registrar's absence, the bench asked Additional Advocate-General Abbas Ali to ensure that the official personally attended the proceedings on May 11.