January 23, 2008	Wednesday	Muharram 13, 1429

KARACHI, Jan 22: The Sindh High Court directed the Karachi Building Control Authority on Tuesday to prosecute the owners/builders and four purchasers of flats in an unauthorized building.

The owners/builders had KBCA sanction for building shops on the ground floor and a parking lot on the first and only floor on a plot adjacent Paradise Centre (formerly housing a cinema) on Abdullah Haroon Road, Saddar. The builders raised a whole lot of eight floors without any approval by the KBCA and named the building Sharjah Centre.

The violation might have remained buried in files had the builders not converted the first floor parking lot and constructed four flats on it. The KBCA issued notices to the flat purchasers and the action led to infighting, exposing a chain of wrongdoings involving not only the builders but also KBCA officials.

The purchasers approached the high court against the KBCA’s demolition notices. They said they were innocent purchasers and victim of complicity between the builders and the KBCA officials concerned.

The high court referred the officials, including a deputy controller of buildings, to the Anti-Corruption Establishment, which arraigned them before an anti-corruption court. Warrants were issued for the arrest of builders, Mohammad Asla, Ashraf and Hameeda Begum, who were avoiding appearance. The KBCA was asked to submit a report on the existing status of the building.

The KBCA said in its report that the building was constructed in gross violation of the provisions of the Sindh Building Control Ordinance and the Town Planning and Building Regulations. The premises were occupied without the mandatory no-objection, completion or occupancy certificates.

The four petitioner purchasers also acquired and occupied their flats in violation of the law and rules. Regularization was neither sought nor considered. Demolition was the only way out under the law.

The case came up before a division bench comprising Justices Munib Ahmed Khan and Syed Pir Ali Shah on Tuesday. It directed the KBCA to file a criminal complaint against the owners/builders and the purchasers with a judicial magistrate of District South under Section 19 of the SBCO. The judicial magistrate should decide the matter within four months. The building should be structurally examined in the meantime.

The KBCA was asked to report compliance within two weeks and inform the court of the outcome of the proceedings on its complaint after the expiry of the four-month period.

Taxmen bailed

Another division bench consisting of Chief Justice Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Justice Khwaja Naveed Ahmed granted pre-arrest interim bail to four customs and sales tax officials required by the National Accountability Bureau.

Customs deputy collector Dr Nasir Khan, superintendent Qazi Hayat and deputy superintendent Tanvir Husain Naqvi and sales tax department auditor Mohammad Altaf are already on bail in a NAB reference against the Bawan Shah Group of Companies.

Group chairman Raja Zaraat Khan, company executives and tax officials are facing trial for allegedly causing a loss of Rs2151 million to the public exchequer in tax rebates and remissions by means of bogus exports. Two of the taxmen were given bail before and two after arrest.

Appearing for the accused applicants, Advocate Raza Hashmi contended that the investigators wanted to pick more companies of the group for prosecution. In fact, they wanted to split the pending ‘sub judice’ reference into more criminal cases in violation of the NAB Ordinance. The applicants were sought to be taken into custody for manipulating evidence by causing harassment. Under the NAB Ordinance, the lawyers said, only one reference could be filed in respect of offences of the same nature committed by the same group of accused even if spread over several years.

The bench ordered that the applicants be admitted to interim pre-arrest bail in a sum of Rs200,000. A notice was issued to the bureau for Feb 4, when the bail would come up for confirmation or cancellation.

Another bench comprising Justices Qaiser Iqbal and Mahmood Alam Rizvi issued a notice to the bureau for Feb 8 in a petition moved by constable Pervez Ahmed Hakro of Shikarpur through Advocate Ghulam Qadir Jatoi.

He said he was arrested last month for drawing Rs571,000 from the GP fund under a fake name. He said the allegation was totally false as he received no amount from the fund.

About 60 police, education, accounts and bank officials are facing trial in the GP Fund scam unearthed by the bureau.

Meanwhile, Raja Zaraat’s petition against the authorization of the criminal reference against him by the chairman of the NAB would also come up before the bench headed by the CJ.

The petition was earlier assigned to the bench consisting of Justices Qaiser Iqbal and Mahmood Alam Rizvi but the latter declined to hear it as he had been appearing against the trader in his capacity as the federal government counsel.

Constable’s case

Another division bench headed by Justice Azizullah M. Memon issued notices to police high-ups in a petition seeking a constable’s reinstatement.

Constable Mohammad Hussain submitted through Advocate Mansoorul Haq Solangi that he joined the police force in 1995 but was dismissed from service in 1997 for his alleged involvement in a robbery. It took him five years to exonerate himself and he was honourably acquitted by a sessions court.

He approached the police department for reinstatement immediately after his acquittal and release but his application was summarily rejected. He moved the high court but his petition was dismissed for want of the court’s jurisdiction in service matters.

The constable said he moved the Sindh Service Tribunal for relief but it dismissed his appeal on ground of limitation. The tribunal said the appeal was time-barred as he failed to act within the stipulated time. He again approached the high court as there was no other remedy available.

Advocate Solangi submitted on the petitioner’s behalf that his acquittal in the criminal case extinguished the very ground of his dismissal from service. He could not be punished for an alleged offence he did not commit.