May 28, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 22, 1429

KARACHI, May 27: A division bench consisting of Chief Justice Azizullah M. Memon and Justice Arshad Noor Khan heard for about five hours arguments in the Kidney Hill park case.

Former advocate-general Dr Mohammad Farogh Naseem was the lead counsel for the respondents and Advocate Rizwana Ismail for the petitioner non-governmental organization, Shehri. The hearing would continue on Wednesday for a final rebuttal by Ms Ismail. The 62-acre park, seven acres of which had already been encroached upon, is in the possession of the SHC nazir pending the proceedings.

The Shehri counsel said the park was allotted to the city district government’s predecessor, the Karachi Municipal Corporation, for development of a park along Shaheed-i-Millat Road. Once a piece of land had been set aside for public amenity, it could not be converted into a housing scheme or commercial project.

Appearing for the Overseas Co-Operative Housing Society, which claimed to have been allotted 40 acres by the Karachi Cooperative Housing Societies Union (KCHSU) in 1964, Dr Farogh Naseem and Advocate A. Haleem Siddiqui said the area was never notified as a ‘public park’ under the law and rules. There was merely a proposal that was not followed up by mandatory notifications. He said his clients had agreed to part with half of their land in the interest of early development of a park on 35 acres.

Advocate Amir Aziz Khan appeared for the KCHSU and argued that the area was never formally converted into a park. CDGK counsel Manzoor Ahmed said a settlement was arrived at following litigation in the Supreme Court and his client was bound by it. Standing counsel Sofia Saeed represented the federal government and additional advocate-general Sarwar Khan the province of Sindh.

Order reserved

Another division bench consisting of Justices Munib Ahmed Khan and Syed Pir Ali Shah reserved its order on a petition moved by M/s Spencer (Pakistan) against the decision of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan to impose a fine of Rs1 million for investing about Rs500 million in its subsidiary Spencer PowerGen without the approval of shareholders in 2002.

Advocate Mohammad Ali Sayeed on behalf of the petitioner said all formalities and legal requirements were duly completed for the investment and the absence of a resolution was a mere technical flaw. However, the principal and subsidiary companies had since merged into each other. The merger had been upheld by the SHC company judge and there was no subsisting controversy requiring adjudication. No loss was caused to either company or the exchequer by the investment or the merger and the penalty of fine was wholly unwarranted.

Deputy Attorney-General Imran Ahmed defended the impugned SECP order as lawful and pointed out that an SECP appellate board had itself attributed the impugned investment to ‘technical flaw’ and not to any fraudulent intention.

Child custody case

Fiza Rizvi Noori has moved an urgent application for the restoration of ‘red warrants’ for the arrest of her former husband, Ghulam Mohammad Noori, who snatched their minor son, Abbas Noori, from her lawful custody and whisked him away to the United States in contravention of the court order and the travel ban imposed by the interior ministry.

Her counsel, Adnan Karim, submitted before Justice Ali Sain Dino Metlo on Tuesday that Mr Noori had failed to return home from the United States and appear and produce the child in the court in the third week of May in gross violation of an undertaking given by him to the court earlier this month.

He requested the court to revive the red warrants, direct the federal interior ministry to arrest him through the Interpol and auction the property already attached by the court for his failure to appear on successive dates. He said his clients had agreed to the suspension of ‘red warrants’ in view of Mr Noori’s undertaking, which also promised amicable settlement of all pending disputes between the estranged couple.