May 01, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 24, 1429

KARACHI, April 30: A division bench of the Sindh High Court restrained five commercial banks on Wednesday from harassing an alleged defaulter and asked them to produce a list of debtors whose loans amounting to Rs5 million or more were written off.

Notices were also issued to the federal interior ministry, the provincial home department and the inspector-general of police to state why police protection was not provided to the petitioner. The bench consisted of Justices Mahmood Alam Rizvi and Dr Qamaruddin Bohra.

Petitioner Anwar Mahmood, who deals in artificial jewellery, submitted through Advocates Tahmasp Rasheed Razvi and Syed Haider Imam, that he was a customer of the Standard Chartered, ABN Amro, NIB, Habib Askari banks since the year 2000 and availed of credit card and personal loan facilities. He had been making regular payments since 2000 but defaulted in 2007 when he suffered a loss of about Rs9 million because of a market fraud. He had to sell his shop on M.A Jinnah Road and informed the creditor banks. Having paid a bulk of the principal amounts, he sought relaxation in mark-up but the banks continued to demand compound interest raising the outstanding amount to about Rs3 million.

The bank recovery departments started making threatening calls and sent teams to his residence in Federal ‘B’ Area to harass him, his wife, five daughters and a widowed ailing mother. He sought protection from police but none came to his rescue. He said the banks were taking the law into their own hands in violation of his fundamental rights. Influential persons owing huge amounts get their loans written off while small debtors were harassed.

The bench, which consisted of Justices Mahmood Alam Rizvi and Dr Qamaruddin Bohra, summoned the chief executives and recovery chiefs of the five banks along with the IGP, the town police officers of Saddar and Gulberg and the SHOs of Kharadar and Samanabad on May 9 to ascertain why the petitioner was being harassed and why no protection was being provided to him. The banks were also asked to submit lists of written-off loans amounting to Rs5 million or more.

Notices issued

The Sindh High Court issued notices on Wednesday in two writ petitions moved by former PML (Q) provincial minister Haji Altaf Unnar, who has been booked and arrested for murder attempt on the complaint of Dr Azra Fazal Pechoho, MNA from Nawabshah and sister of PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari, and one petition moved by PML (Q) candidate from Larkana Sarwar Babu Sial.

Mr Unnar claimed that he had been implicated in a firing incident under a second FIR registered 14 months after the alleged incident with mala fide intentions and for political victimization. He sought the quashment of the second FIR and his release from unlawful confinement. By another petition moved through his counsel, Advocate Waseef Kehar, the ex-minister requested the court to direct the provincial government to submit a list of cases registered against him. Babu Sial also contended that he was being harassed and subjected to political victimization. Seeking protection from police highhandedness, he said the home department be directed to produce a list of cases against him.

A division bench comprising Justices Mahmood Alam Rizvi and Dr Qamaruddin Bohra issued notices to the complainant MNA, the SHO of the Budhapur police station, Jamshoro, and other respondents besides the advocate-general in Mr Unnar’s petition and to the AG in Mr Sial’s petition for May 15.

Holding brief for Dr Azra Fazal Pechoho, Advocate Adnan Karim submitted that the firing incident occurred on February 10, 2007, after a raid on a polling station during a by-election in PS-71, Dadu. The MNA was present at the police station and her car was fired upon when she left after the raid, in which Haji Altaf Unnar, Dr Sohrab Sarki, another provincial minister, and 19 others were involved. She lodged a complaint promptly but the police registered another FIR on its own. The complaint remained buried in files until a sessions court ordered its registration as the second FIR. A charge-sheet has already been submitted in the case to a competent court.

Wapda appointment

The Sindh High Court directed the Water and Power Development Authority to appoint a candidate from Larkana to a junior engineer’s post as per his entitlement from the quota earmarked for the province.Candidate Zulfiqar Ali Magsi submitted through Advocate Mohammad Nawaz Shaikh that he applied for the post in 2005 after graduating in electrical engineering from Mehran University in 1998. He appeared in a written test held in Lahore and was called for interview. He was later told that he had failed in the written test. Another candidate hailing from Lahore was, however, given grace marks and appointed to the post. He said there were seven vacancies, out of which four were allocated to Punjab and one each to Sindh and the NWFP. One seat was to be filled on open merit.

Advocate Nawaz Shaikh argued that if the petitioner had been allowed grace marks, he would have filled the vacancy from Sindh. However, he was discriminated against and denied appointment. The province was also deprived of its quota in the process.

A division bench consisting of Chief Justice Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Justices Abdul Rahman Farooq Pirzada allowed the petition and issued a direction for the petitioner’s appointment.