October 16, 2008	Thursday	Shawwal 16, 1429

KARACHI, Oct 15: The Sindh High Court issued a notice in a bail application moved by an accused being tried for illegally occupying and acquiring land belonging to the late prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Malir.

Applicant Mohammad Boota is alleged to have occupied, after Mr Bhutto’s hanging in 1979, a 1045-square-yard plot owned by the late premier in Malir. In 1981, he allegedly fabricated a power of attorney on behalf of the late premier’s legal heirs, Murtaza and Shahnawaz Bhutto, Benazir and Sanam Bhutto, Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Ameer Shireen Begum, and got a sale deed in respect of the plot registered in his favour. The transaction, according to the prosecution, was verified by Mukhtiarkar Mushtaq Ali Solangi, who issued Boota a no-objection for the mutation of the plot in the revenue record in 2005. Boota subsequently sold the plot to his son, Asghar, through a general power of attorney.

The anti-corruption establishment instituted an inquiry into the transaction and booked Boota and Solangi. The former was arrested and produced before an anti-corruption court for trial. His bail application was heard by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, who directed that a notice be issued to the prosecution.

IGP’s petition allowed

A division bench consisting of Justices Khilji Arif Hussain and Dr Qamaruddin Bohra, meanwhile, accepted a petition moved by inspector-general of prisons Yamin Khan through Advocate Anwar Mansoor Khan for consideration of his promotion case.

The petitioner said he was eligible for promotion from grade 20 to 21 but his case was not being considered by the departmental promotion committee set up by the establishment division. The omission was arbitrary and discriminatory.

The bench directed the establishment to include the petitioner’s name in the list of grade 20 officers being considered for promotion to grade 21 by the departmental promotion committee headed by the establishment secretary.

Zakat body chief reinstated

A division bench comprising CJ Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Syed Pir Ali Shah, meanwhile, allowed a petition moved by former chairman of the Jacobabad zakat and ushr committee, Mufti Shafi Sarki. He said he was appointed for three years and was removed, allegedly on corruption charges, without being served a show cause notice or a statement of allegations. He questioned the credentials of his successor who, he alleged, was a ruling party activist.

Accepting the petition, the bench, however, allowed the provincial zakat and ushr department to proceed in accordance with the law if there was any complaint against the petitioner.

Name struck off ECL

Allowing another petition, the bench ordered that the name of Akbar Mondokhel, a contractor of the Port Qasim Authority, should be removed from the exit control list. The contractor was involved in a National Accountability Bureau reference alleging that he caused a loss of Rs350 million to the authority in a water supply project contracted out to him. The ministry of interior placed his name on the exit control list at a request made by the bureau.

The petitioner said the NAB had no authority to clamp a travel ban on him in violation of his fundamental right of freedom of movement.