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KARACHI, March 27: A division bench of the Sindh High Court consisting of Chief Justice Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Justice Syed Pir Ali Shah stayed on Monday the retirement of Civil Aviation Authority senior director Nusratullah Khan. The director submitted through Advocate Gohar Iqbal that he was serving in grade 20 and CAA Director-General Farooq Rehmatullah had no authority to order his retirement.
The petitioner said he had opposed the appointment of Mr Rehmatullah, former chairman of the Pakistan State Oil, because under the rules, either a senior CAA director or an officer with technical experience could be posted director-general. In retaliation, he alleged, the DG ordered his retirement with effect from March 31. He maintained that the secretary, aviation wing, ministry of defence, alone was competent to retire him in accordance with the rules.
Pre-arrest bail
The CJ, meanwhile, allowed pre-arrest interim bail to Advocate Ashfaq Ahmad Shaikh of Larkana in the sum of Rs200,000. He is alleged to have fatally burnt his wife, Aneela, after sprinkling oil on her on January 31. Annela was immediately taken to the Mehran Medical Centre, Larkana, for treatment but the burn injuries were so severe that she was shifted to Karachi, first to Aga Khan Hospital and finally to the Burns Unit of the Civil Hospital, where she died on February 7. In an FIR lodged the same day, her brother Jamil Ahmad Shaikh said she was cooking food when put to torch by her husband in the kitchen of their house.
Accused Mohammad Nawaz Shaikh submitted on behalf of Advocate Ashfaq that the deceased, who was also his cousin, had cordial relations with him. In the very first report of the incident, Khalil Ahmad Shaikh, another of Aneela’s brother, informed the Dari police station in Larkana that she has suffered severe burns. There was no mention of the incident related in the FIR by the complainant brother.
The applicant said he could not approach the Larkana sessions court or the high court bench there because the police have cordoned the premises and he would be arrested on arrival there.
Issuing notice to a provincial attorney, the CJ fixed April 4 for confirmation of the interim bail.
Reinstatement ordered
A Federal Service Tribunal bench consisting of Mohammad Javed Ashraf Hussain and Salim Gul Shaikh, meanwhile, set aside the dismissal of Sajid Ali Memon, a clerk in the post office department, Badin, and ordered his reinstatement with retrospective effect from July 27, 2000. He was alleged to have misappropriated the amount of electricity bills but claimed that he was on leave when the embezzlement took place.
The appellant’s counsel, Mansoorul Haq Solangi, argued that the departmental inquiry into misappropriation was flawed inasmuch as witnesses were not cross-examined in the presence of the accused. Material witnesses were not examined by the appellant.
Partially allowing the appeal, the bench directed the postal department to conduct fresh disciplinary proceedings against the appellant and complete the process within four months. As for service benefits from dismissal in the year 2000 to reinstatement, the matter would depend on the outcome of the inquiry. If the respondent department failed to complete the new inquiry within four months, the appellant shall be deemed to have been honourably acquitted.
