October 25, 2008	Saturday	Shawwal 25, 1429

KARACHI, Oct 24: A division bench of the Sindh High Court restrained the Faisal cantonment board on Friday from taking coercive action to recover conversion charges from the owners of CNG stations who had paid their dues to the city district government.

The bench passed the order on petitions moved by Mrs Raza Arif and Mohammad Zahoor through Advocate Sohail Muzaffar. They said they installed the compressed natural gas stations in Blocks 10-A and 13 of Gulshan-i-Iqbal and paid Rs3.5 million and Rs2.1 million, respectively, to the city district government for conversion of their plots into commercial premises. They also cleared all the dues payable to the various agencies involved.

The Faisal cantonment board, which has no jurisdiction in the matter, the petitioners said, was, however, out to recover land conversion charges and other dues. They said they could not be made to pay their twice over to two different agencies.

The bench, which consisted of Justices Azizullah M. Memon and Syed Pir Ali Shah, issued fresh notices to the chief executive of the cantonment board and restrained the board in the meantime.

Notice to CDGK

The bench also issued notices to the CDGK and the Gulshan Town municipal administration in a petition moved by an organizer of Bachat Bazaar (fair price market). Petitioner Abdul Aziz claimed that he had been organizing Bachat Bazaar in Block 7 of Gulshan-i-Iqbal for the last 20 years. He paid the CDGK an amount of Rs470,000 every month and Rs50,000 to the Gulshan Town municipal administration. The town administration had, however, asked him to wind up his business without assigning any reason.

The petitioner requested the court to restrain the municipal administration from terminating his bazaar and direct it to provide him alternative premises if the space occupied by the bazaar was required for any other public purpose.

Plea against nazir

The court was, meanwhile, moved to initiate contempt proceedings against its nazir for his alleged failure to comply with a court order. Advocate Nazar Akbar submitted on behalf of his client that the nazir was directed by the court on Sept 10, 2008, to evict trespassers from a Gulshan-i-Iqbal building. The building was ordered sealed by the court for gross violations and the utilities were barred from providing their connections. The respondent builder allegedly got the seal broken and occupied the building in violation of the court order. The nazir was asked to resume possession, if necessary, with police assistance and re-affix the court seal.

However, according to the lawyer, he did not carry out the court order. Justice Gulzar Ahmed, who heard the contempt plea, gave a copy of the contempt application to the nazir and asked him to explain his position on Oct 30.

Inquiry into land sale

The judge appointed Justice (Retd) Mohammad Sadiq Leghari as commissioner for recording evidence in a dispute over sale of 234 acres on the Super Highway at Jamshoro. The land, claimed to have been owned by M/s Al Imaraat (Private) Limited, was auctioned under a high court order when the company went into liquidation.

The provincial government moved an application earlier this month for setting aside the sale. It said the land was owned by it and not by the defunct company and the auction order was procured by fraud and misrepresentation.

Appearing for the auction purchaser, Advocate Shaukat Ali Shaikh opposed the application for being time-barred. He said the auction was conducted under the order and supervision of the high court and was approved by it. The land was owned by the defunct company and a member of the board of revenue was taken to task by the court when he issued a notice in 2006 for cancellation of the sale.

Refund ordered

A division bench comprising Justices Khilji Arif Hussain and Dr Qamaruddin Bohra ordered partial refund of the security amount deposited by an importer in his appeal against the customs department assessment of duty. He said he imported cotton curtain cloth four years ago and the duty was leviable at the rate of $2.80 per kilogram. However, the customs assessed the rate of duty at $4 per kilogram.

Representing the importer, Advocate Nisar A. Mujahid informed the bench that the court had ordered the customs authorities to reconsider the assessment but the order was not complied with and the department had again assessed the duty at the same rate. The bench advised the importer to approach the customs collector again and allowed him partial refund of the amount deposited by him.