KARACHI: SHC asks CDGK to submit plan for green belt
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, May 15: The Sindh High Court asked the city district government and the PECHS to submit their respective plans for development of the green belt between the society’s block 6 and Mahmoodabad as a park by May 25. The order was passed by a division bench, comprising Justices Ataur Rahman and S. Ali Aslam Jafri, on a petition moved by the Pakistan Employees Co-operative Housing Society through Advocate Mushtaq Memon. The petition said the six-acre site was to be developed as a model park by the society but had been taken over by the city district government.
Appearing in response to a court notice, CDGK counsel Manzoor Ahmed submitted that the site belonged to the PECHS but had been taken over by the city government for developing a park expeditiously.
He said about 137 plots had already been carved out of the green belt and sold for residential purposes. The (defunct) KDA and the CDGK’s master plan group of offices had already declared the site as an amenity area that could not be used for any other purpose.
Declining an interim order to restrain the CDGK, the bench asked both the parties to produce their plans for the proposed park.
PLEA ALLOWED: Justice Amir Hani Muslim, meanwhile, allowed a contractor to lift and transport government wheat consignment from Khairpur to Karachi. The order came on an application moved by Al Alif (Pvt) Limited through Advocate Khalid Jawed Khan in their pending suit.
The plaintiffs stated that tenders for lifting and transportation of wheat from Khairpur to Karachi were invited by the provincial government through newspapers. They quoted the lowest rates and were awarded the contract. Subsequently, the government rescinded the contract and awarded it to the National Logistics Cell.
Additional Advocate-General M. Ahmed Pirzada, who appeared for the provincial government, said the NLC being a federal government organization had the prior right over the contract. Only if it refused to carry out the assignment, a tender could be awarded to a private contractor.
Contesting the contention, the plaintiffs’ counsel submitted that according to a high court judgment, the NLC was not a part or a subsidiary organization of the Pakistan Army.
The court asked the AAG to name any law that declared the NLC a part of the army or of the federal government. It allowed an application by the plaintiff for an interim order and adjourned the hearing to a date in office.
Advocate Bashir Ahmed, who appeared for the NLC, said Advocate Anwar Mansoor Khan would defend the defendant cell.
MEDICAL FEES: A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Maqbool, meanwhile, asked the provincial health secretary to file a statement showing whether any failed medical college student admitted under the self-financing scheme was allowed to continue his or her studies without payment of additional fees.
A petitioner, a girl student of the Liaquat Medical College, stated that she paid Rs 150,000 under the scheme but flunked her first professional examination. She was now being asked to pay another Rs 150,000 in order to continue her studies for the same course. She alleged that a number of students had been allowed to repeat the course and reappear in the exam without having to pay any extra amount.
AAG Pirzada informed the bench that the students who obtained admission under the self-financing scheme were to pay Rs 150,000 each year. The amount covered studies for one academic year only. Additional fee had to be paid if a student failed in an exam and continued his or her studies beyond the stipulated period. If remission had been allowed to any student that was no ground for waiving other students’ fees. The government had to spend a lot of amount on providing medical education.
The bench observed that there should be no discrimination and if other students in similar circumstances had been allowed remission, there was no reason why the petitioner should also receive the same treatment. It asked the health secretary to state on May 27 how many students had received the concession.
