September 04, 2008	Thursday	Ramazan 3, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 3: The Sindh High Court directed the city district government on Wednesday to take over a piece of land carved out of an amenity plot in Gulshan-i-Iqbal and maintain its status as a public park.

A division bench comprising Justices Munib Ahmed Khan and Rana Mohammad Shamim passed the order on a petition moved by the non-governmental organization Shehri-Citizens for Better Environment.

The petitioner complained that a 1625-square-yard plot ST-8 (re-numbered E-12) in Block 17 of Gulshan-i-Iqbal (Scheme 24) had unlawfully been carved out of a bigger amenity plot in gross violation of the original lay-out and in disregard of the public requirement and environment. Some residents agitated the issue in the high court as far back as 1994 and the court held the amenity status of the land, the petitioner society said. Advocate Manzoor Ahmed, counsel for the city district government, submitted that the plot ST-8 was bifurcated to apportion a part of it for residential purpose in view of the housing requirements. The matter was referred to the provincial government’s land committee, which regularized the partition in 1992.

Allowing the petition, the bench observed that an amenity plot could not be put to another use. The city district government should resume the land and maintain its initial status.

By another order in another petition, the bench asked the CDGK to proceed in accordance with the law if it wanted to cancel lay-out plan of 18 acres of public land at Deh Songal, Tapo Songal, Gadap (Scheme 33).

M/s Imrana Enterprise, a construction firm, submitted in their petition that the CDGK cancelled the lay-out plan when construction had already been raised on the land and the developer had sold out plots to individual purchasers. The government did not issue a show-cause notice nor intimated the petitioner firm.

PTCL package

Another bench consisting of Justices Khilji Arif Hussain and Bin Yamin adjourned a petition questioning the curtailment of the local call duration from five to two minutes and compulsory introduction of its ‘Pakistan Package’ at the request of PTCL counsel Rasheed A. Razvi.

Petitioner-lawyer Javed Ahmed Chhatari submitted that the package had arbitrarily been introduced by the Pakistan Telecommunication Company without taking into consideration the needs and convenience of its consumers. He said Rs199 had been added to the phone bill of each consumer and the new local call duration had caused an additional burden of up to 150 per cent. If any consumer wanted to discard the package he had to inform the so-called consumer service at 1236, which always remained engaged. Justice Hussain confirmed from his own experience that the package had practically been made compulsory as it was well-nigh impossible to contact 1236.

Advocate Razvi sought time to file a reply to the averments and the bench allowed his 10 days to do so. The hearing was adjourned to Sept 23.

Notices issued

The bench issued notices to the federal finance secretary, the federal revenue board and the collector of customs to submit comments on a petition moved by a customs inspector for extension in his service.Inspector Mohammad Idrees Chachar submitted through Advocate Mohammad Nawaz Shaikh that he joined the customs department as preventive officer in 1976 and was promoted as inspector in 1997. He was laid off in 2001 and was finally dismissed from service for allegedly living beyond his means and for acquiring assets disproportionate to the known sources of his income.

He challenged his dismissal before the Federal Service Tribunal, which ordered his reinstatement in 2004 with retrospective effect and with all back benefits. He said he remained without posting for about two years and a half for no fault of his own and the period should be added to his service in keeping with the Supreme Court judgment in former inspector-general Shoaib Suddle’s case.

In a petition moved by Bashir Ahmed Abro, deputy director of the provincial culture and tourism department, meanwhile, the bench issued notices to the provincial chief secretary and the secretary of the culture and tourism department for Sept 9.

Advocate Nawaz Shaikh submitted on behalf of the petitioner that he joined service in grade 17 after doing his MSc in library science and selection by the Sindh Public Service Commission. He was promoted to grade 18 in 1993 and was currently serving as deputy director of the Liaquat Memorial Library. He was entitled to promotion to grade 19 after putting in 12 years of service in grade 18 and his name was on top of the seniority list.

However, the departmental promotion committee ignored his seniority and competence and promoted certain junior officers in violation of the rules and his vested right. He said the DPC decision was arbitrary and discriminatory.

Return of seized bullion

Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali issued a notice to a deputy attorney-general in a petition by bullion trader Saleh Mohammad. The petitioner said about 21 years ago the Coastguards raided his shop in Sarafa Bazaar and seized six kilograms of gold and 17 kilos of silver as smuggled bullion. A case was instituted against him in the Customs Court.

He said the case was bogus and he was acquitted by the court. However, the seized gold and silver remained in the custody of the coastguards as ‘case property’ despite termination of the case his acquittal. The petitioner requested the court to order an immediate return of his property, the price of which had gone up manifold in the meantime. The notice to the federal attorney was issued for Sept 17.