KARACHI: SHC issues notice to AG, CDGK: LEW land compensation case
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Dec 27: The Sindh High Court issued notices to the respondent City District Government Karachi and the advocate-general in 11 petitions against inadequate compensation for land acquired for the Lyari Expressway project.
The petitioners, through Advocate Qadir Bux Jatoi, submitted that a price-fixing committee consisting of revenue officials was appointed by the CDGK to assess and pay fair compensation keeping in view the prevailing market rates.
The committee fixed the rate of compensation after taking into consideration various factors. However, the final amounts paid by the CDGK to the property owners were grossly inadequate and below the market value. One petitioner, for instance, was paid Rs600,000 for his Gulberg plot, which was worth Rs2.4 million in the market. The petitioners maintained that compensation fixed was arbitrary and unfair.
A division bench comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Amir Hani Muslim directed that notices be issued to all the respondents and the advocate-general for a date to be fixed by the office.
KESC UNION: The same bench issued notices in a petition moved by the KESC Democratic Mazdoor Union against an order passed by the National Industrial Relations Commission (NIRC). The union said it was the elected collective bargaining agent for the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation workers in 1998 but through an amendment in 1999 to the Industrial Relations Ordinance-1969, the corporation had been excluded from the purview of the trade union law. A new IRO was promulgated in 2002 that sought to deprive KESC workers of their right to form unions permanently.
The ban on trade unionism was challenged in the SHC by the KESC Union and the court held in May 2005 that the corporation employees enjoyed the right to form unions like other workers in the country. The union applied to the NIRC for certification to function as a CBA for three years with effect from May 2005, when the SHC declared it functional. The NIRC, however, called for a fresh referendum in the KESC to elect a new CBA. The commission said the petitioner union was voted CBA in the late 1990s and a new election was warranted. The union assailed the order by a petition moved in the high court through Advocate Shahanshah Husain.
PRE-ARREST BAIL: The Sindh High Court granted pre-arrest interim bail to regional income tax commissioner Abrar Ahmad on Wednesday.
According to his counsel, Raja Qureshi, the commissioner is wrongfully alleged to possess properties worth Rs150 million owned by his relatives and so declared in the declaration of assets filed by them and accepted by the income tax department.
The relatives are independent tax-payers who file their separate declarations and are assessed independently.
The counsel informed the division bench, comprising Justice Rehmat Husain Jafri and Justice Munib Ahmed Khan, that this was the position taken by the commissioner in his income tax returns and in the data form furnished to the NAB authorities.
The counsel maintained this was a case of further inquiry and the applicant was entitled to bail.
Granting interim bail in a sum of Rs1 million, the bench issued a notice to the NAB for January 10, when the order would come up for confirmation.
