July 18, 2008	Friday	Rajab 14, 1429

KARACHI, July 17: Deputy Attorney-General Imran Ahmed questioned the maintainability of a petition challenging acquisition of land by the Rangers in a housing society when the matter came up for hearing by a vacation division bench of the Sindh High Court on Thursday.

The federal attorney said the petition involved disputed questions of facts, which could not be decided in writ proceedings.

The respondent Rangers claim they were allotted five acres of land for housing units at Deh Okawari, Tapo Sangal, District East, Karachi, while the petitioner, Mai Kolachi Co-operative Housing Society, says that it was part of the 79.5 acres allotted to it about a decade earlier.

The society could only institute a suit to settle the controversy, argued Mr Ahmed.

The petitioner’s counsel, Syed Masroor Alvi submitted that the Rangers had no case and no disputed question of fact was involved in the proceedings. They have admittedly failed to produce the demarcation and possession certificates to sustain a claim to the land occupied by them. They have also failed to bring on record any payment made by them on account of lease. The petitioner could not be driven to file a suit and the court should issue a writ to free the land from unlawful occupation, the counsel contended.

The bench comprising Justices Ms Qaiser Iqbal and Khwaja Naveed Ahmed adjourned further hearing to August 6.

A division bench that heard the petition initially, had warned the respondents by an interim order that any construction raised on the disputed land by the Rangers would have to be demolished at their own cost.

Unnar’s bail plea

The same bench also adjourned the hearing of former provincial minister Haji Altaf Hussain Unnar’s bail application to July 30.

A medical board constituted by the Hyderabad health director in pursuance of a court order confirmed that the applicant suffered serious ailments but expressed the view that they could all be treated in jail. Mr Unnar had pressed medical grounds, among others reasons, for bail. The medical report said he suffered from renal and liver problems, besides high blood pressure and diabetes.

The ex-minister is facing a trial before an anti-terrorism court for firing at a vehicle carrying Dr Azra Pechoho, an MNA and sister of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, on February 10, 2007. The case was registered in March and his counsel, Advocate Raja Qureshi, said it was politically motivated.

Before adjourning the hearing, the bench allowed a request by the complainant MNA’s counsel, Advocate Abu Bakr Zardari, and asked Raja Qureshi to furnish him a copy of the bail application.

District attorneys’ sacking case

The bench issued notices in a petition against the termination of services of seven deputy district attorneys selected by the Sindh Public Service Commission in 2005.

Their counsel, Advocate Gohar Iqbal, said the petitioners were sacked within two years of their selection by the SPSC. They were not given an opportunity to contest their dismissal. Notices were issued to the provincial law department and the SPSC.

Notices issued

The bench also issued notices in a petition seeking a direction to the government to oblige the special anti-narcotics courts to dispose of every case within 30 days.

Petitioner Syed Iqbal Kazmi, an under-trial prisoner facing cases for issuing dud cheques, said the only justification for establishing special courts was prompt disposal of cases involving heinous crimes. If cases could not be decided within 30 days, the special courts should better be wound up.

He said several prisoners in the district jail of Malir alone had been facing proceedings before anti-narcotic courts for about eight years. There were only two special courts to try about 1,300 cases registered under the Control of Narcotic Substances Act in Karachi, he added.