KARACHI, July 28: The Sindh High Court has suspended arbitration proceedings between the city district government of Karachi (CDGK) and a construction company till further orders.
The interim order was passed on an application moved by the CGDK in its pending suit for declaration, injunction and recovery of about Rs.62 million against M/s Iftikhar and Taha, a project management and construction company.
The plaintiff's counsel, Qazi Khalid Ali, submitted that there was no arbitration clause in any of the document relating to the dispute between the plaintiff and the defendant. He said the CDGK was clear as evidenced by the minutes of a meeting held on June 10, 2005, and the alleged dispute is to be settled in accordance with the contract. According to clause 12 and 12-A of the contract, any dispute between the principal and the contractor to be decided by the competent authority, who in this case is Nazim of the CDGK.
Contrary to the agreement, the matter has been referred to arbitrator fraudulently with the collusion and connivance of some unscrupulous officials of the CDGK against whom departmental action was already in the offing.
Justice Munib Ahmed Khan observed that the contentions raised by the CDGK counsel required consideration. Issuing notice to the defendant, he suspended the impugned arbitration proceedings in the meantime.
PLEA DISMISSED: The Sindh High Court dismissed on Friday a revision petition against the trial of former Balochistan chief minister Sardar Akhtar Mengal and his four employees for alleged kidnapping of army personnel under the Anti-Terrorist Act.
The ex-CM, who is also president of the Balochistan National Party, and his employees Nasrullah Mengal, Ghulam Hyder Langah alias Chappar, Mehboob Ali Satti and Ghulam Qadir have been booked for kidnapping and taking hostage army havildar Qurban Hussain and lance naik Fayaz Ahmed. The personnel were alleged to have been kidnapped by the accused from Darakhshan on April 5 with intent to kill while they were proceeding to perform their intelligence duty.
The first information report lodged by Qurban Hussain also alleged that he and his colleague were taken to Sardar Mengal’s house in Khayaban-i-Shamsher, Defence Housing Authority, and kept hostage and subjected to torture there for two hours before being released.
The case is being tried by special judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of an anti-terrorism court and Sardar Mengal has been declared an absconder. The accused challenged their trial before the ATC, saying no offence has been committed by them and the offence even as made out by the prosecution did not fall within the purview of the ATA. The alleged abductees had been chasing Sardar Mengal’s car for some days in civilian clothes and harassing him and his driver and other employees. The accused wanted to ascertain their identity and caught hold of them without any intent to cause any harm. They submitted that the case be transferred to the sessions court of competent jurisdiction.
The ATC dismissed the application on May 18 and the accused approached the high court through Advocate Azizullah K. Shaikh against the dismissal of their application. The counsel argued that no offence under the ATA had been made out and that the accused had been implicated on account of political hostility.
Contesting the plea, a state counsel argued that the trial had commenced and evidence was to be adduced by the two parties. The ATC could decide the matter only after examining evidence.
An SHC division bench, comprising Justices Mushir Alam and Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui, dismissed the revision plea observing that it was for the trial court to decide whether the case fell within the purview of the ATA after recording evidence.
