KARACHI: SHC convicts revenue board member: Contempt of court
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Feb 28: Justice Gulzar Ahmed of the Sindh High Court convicted the land utilisation member of the provincial board of revenue of contempt and sentenced him till the rising of the court on Wednesday.
Mohammad Khalid Soomro was sued for contempt of court by the purchasers of 234 acres of farm land in Dadu. The land belonged to M/s Al Imaraat, a private company that went into liquidation in 1989, but had not been mutated in its favor due to non-payment of the requisite fee. The SHC company judge ordered auction of the company assets and the court’s official assignee invited bids and auctioned the land in the year 2000.
The revenue board member for land utilisation issued a public notice cancelling the transfer of land to the purchasers. The notice said the land was the property of the provincial government. Purchaser Mohammad Farooq and others filed a contempt application through Advocate Shaukat Ali Shaikh. The counsel argued that the notice was issued under Section 154 of the Land Revenue Act, which empowered the member to cancel land allotted by subordinate revenue officials and could not be invoked for cancellation of a transaction ordered by the high court.
Mr Soomro appeared after a non-bailable warrant for his arrest was issued to ensure his presence. He tried on Wednesday to justify the notice issued by him but pleaded guilty later and apologised to the court. The court punished him till its rising. His plea for a direction that the punishment should not adversely affect his service record would be considered on Thursday.
Retired judge’s plea: A division bench of the Sindh High Court reserved its order on a retired judge’s case for appearing before the court as an advocate.
Assisting the court earlier, Advocate Abdul Hafeez Pirzada submitted that besides provisions of Article 207, the bar on retired judges from pleading before the high court they served was a long-established convention that has acquired the force of law.Arguing his case, ex-justice Mohammad Sadiq Leghari said he decided to continue as a judge of the high court in 2002 when the retirement age was raised from 62 to 65 years by the Legal Framework Order. The 17th Amendment to the Constitution restored the previous age otherwise he would have retired in 2009 on completion of a seven-year term that would have entitled him to pension. He reiterated that Article 207 placed no bar on him from practicing law before the SHC. The bar was applicable only to courts subordinate to the high court.
