18 September 2004	Saturday	02 Shaban 1425

KARACHI, Sept 17: The Sindh High Court issued notices to the advocate-general, the city nazim and the city district government's legal adviser in a writ petition seeking urgent action to curb air and noise pollution created in the city by rickshaws, taxis and buses, their unauthorized stands and their fast and faulty meters.

The petitioner, Advocate Islam Hussain of Rizvia Society, Nazimabad, submitted before a division bench, comprising Chief Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad and Zawwar Hussain Jaffery, that environmental pollution caused by public transport vehicles was becoming unbearable. It was adversely affecting the residents' quality of life.

Rickshaws, taxis and buses, in particular, the petitioner said, cared little for traffic laws and rules and the environmental law. They emitted poisonous smoke, plied without silencers and used pressure horns. Any unoccupied piece of public property was good enough for them to be used as a stand. They also encroached on roads and busy market areas and posed health and traffic hazards.

The petitioner said the rickshaw and cab drivers and operators also overcharged the passengers by installing faulty meters. In most cases, they compelled passengers to pay an arbitrarily-fixed amount of fare irrespective of meter reading.

He sought directions to the authorities concerned to counter the menace of pollution, traffic violations and overcharging. The bench issued pread mission notices to the AG and the CDGK for a date in office.

CANDIDATES' PLEA: The bench also issued a pread mission notice to the advocate-general for September 29 in a petition moved by 159 candidates to the college lecturers' vacancies in the province. The petitioners claimed that they were duly selected for the lecturers' posts but their appointment letters were suspended following change of government.

Naming the provincial education secretary and the Sindh Public Service Commission as respondents, the petitioners said they had a right to be appointed to vacancies as they fulfilled all legal requirements for selection.

Advocate Ali Ahmed Junejo, the petitioners' counsel, submitted that there were 37 women and four blind men among the successful candidates. They had a right to be posted to various colleges in the province. He argued that the appointment letters had been withdrawn to create vacancies for the candidates favoured by the present government.

STUDENT'S PETITION: In a petition moved by a student of People's Medical College, Nawabshah, the bench issued notices to the respondents for Sept 22. Petitioner Tayyaba submitted through Advocate Mohammad Nawaz Shaikh that she cleared the Part-I MBBS examination with high marks and was promoted to Part-II.

However, a hostel mate occupying the adjoining room committed suicide after failing in the exam and she fell prey to depression. Her condition worsened when her two younger sisters were tested positive for thalassaemia. She could not take the Part-II annual exam. She could not appear in the subsequent exam, though her admission form was accepted.

Finally, when she sought to take the 2004 annual exam, the college and university authorities declined to consider her candidature after accepting the exam fee. The petitioner submitted that the authorities' refusal was based on misreading of a rule relating to Part-I MBBS exam.

SUMMONS ISSUED: The SHC office, meanwhile, issued summons for October 20 in a suit instituted by a security guard against the Karachi Port Trust high-ups.