KARACHI: Notice issued to PS in discrimination case
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Aug 1: The Sindh High Court issued on Tuesday a notice to the Pakistan Steel for August 8 in a petition alleging discrimination by its management against a contractor.
The petitioner enterprise submitted through Advocate Shakeel Ahmed that it was awarded contract for supply of angle iron by the steel mills with four other contractors whose bids were accepted in 2003. Iron product prices, however, doubled within days of award of contract. It and other prospective suppliers told the PS management that it would not be possible for them to supply angle iron on the old rates quoted by them in their bids.
They said that the Pakistan Steel being the biggest producer of iron and steel and their products in the country, prices of angle iron could not go up steeply without its management being partly responsible. On the one hand the management had allowed the prices to rise and on the other, it wanted the contractors to supply angle iron at old rates. They sought cancellation of the purchase orders placed by the Pakistan Steel with them so that they did not default on supply and face de-registration as contractors.
The petitioner enterprise alleged that while the plea of four contractors was accepted, the mill management declined to cancel the purchase order issued to it. As it could not comply with the purchase order, it could be blacklisted and disqualified for future bidding. The management’s action amounted to discrimination and the petitioner requested the court to issue a direction to the PS management to treat it at par with other contractors and cancel its purchase order also.
A division bench comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmani and Maqbool Baqar directed that a notice be issued to the respondent for August 8.
NOTICE TO AG: The bench also issued a notice to a provincial law officer for Wednesday in a petition seeking the production and recovery of a PPP (Shaheed Bhutto) activist.
Petitioner Dili Jan submitted through Advocate Nadeem Qureshi that his father, Nihal Khan, PPP (SB) provincial committee member, picked up from his Korangi residence on July 6. His captors came on a vehicle with an official number plate. They warned members of his family not to press for his release or try to know his whereabouts. They assured the detainee’s family that he would be freed shortly after ‘some verification and investigation’.
The petitioner said he waited for two days and got suspicious when his father did not return home nor contacted him or other members of his family. He requested the court to order his father’s recovery and release from unlawful confinement.
BYPOLL STAY PLEA: The bench asked Advocates Nooruddin Sarki and Syed Ghulam Shah to file an amended petition on behalf of the ousted deputy nazim of the district of Larkana if they wanted the by-election to the office scheduled for Aug 3 stayed.
Munawar Ali Abro has challenged the vote of no-confidence passed against him as illegal. He said the no-trust motion was tabled and carried out while he was on leave of absence. The presiding officer of the session that considered the motion and later adopted it had no authority to chair the district council meeting. He was not given an opportunity to defend himself. The court issued the respondents notices for Aug 8.
His counsel moved an urgent application on Tuesday saying that the Election Commission had scheduled a by-election to the office of deputy nazim on August 3 and unless the balloting was stayed, the petition would be rendered infructuous. They said they had sought the relief in the petition itself.
