November 11, 2008	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 12, 1429

KARACHI, Nov 10: A two-member bench of the Sindh High Court on Monday issued notices to the home secretary, the inspector-general of Sindh police, the directors-general of the Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence and the SP and the DSP of the crime investigation department of police for Nov 19 on a petition seeking whereabouts of a ‘missing person’.

Petitioner Ateeq Rassul submitted through Advocate Maqbool-ur-Rahman that his son, Zohaib Rassul, was picked up in Peshawar on Aug 27, allegedly by law-enforcement agencies, adding that Abbas, a relative of the victim, had moved the Peshawar High Court for the recovery of Zohaib on Aug 29. However, the petitioner claimed that he came to know in the meantime that the victim had been transferred to Karachi.

He stated that Shahid Ali, a friend of his “detained” son, had also been picked up apparently by the intelligence agencies, but he was released a few days later. He claimed that Shahid had informed him that he had met Zohaib and he was in the custody of CID police, adding that he had managed to contact the SP of CID in this regard and the SP assured that his son would be released within a few weeks if he was not wanted in any case.

However, he added that after a few weeks when he again contacted the SP, he was told that Zohaib had been handed over to the Intelligence Bureau.

The petitioner concluded that despite efforts, the whereabouts of his son could not be known.

The Sindh home secretary, the IG, the DGs of ISI, MI and others were made respondents in the petition.

CNG station

A compressed natural gas station can be set up on a residential plot lawfully converted into a commercial plot, a division bench of the Sindh High Court held on Monday.

Allowing two appeals against a single judge’s decisions that installation of a CNG station was not permissible even on a converted plot, the bench said the city district government bye-laws approved by a resolution on January 6, 2004, and the Karachi Building and Town Planning Regulations of 2002 permitted setting up of gas stations on residential plots once they had been converted into commercial premises. The rules only prescribe a certain procedure, which must be followed. Commercial activity is not confined to offices and shops, etc.

Before grant of permission by the Karachi Building Control Authority and the CDGK, the bench noted no-objection certificates are required to be produced from the federal ministries of industries, production and petroleum. No additional NOC except a no-objection certificate from the department of explosives is, however, required for a CNG station proposed to be installed on a petrol pump, the bench said.

Z.A. Bhutto’s assets

The hearing of Ms Sanam Seema Bhutto’s suit for distribution of the assets left behind by the late prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto among his legal heirs was, meanwhile, adjourned by Justice Arshad Noor Khan. The judge asked the plaintiff’s counsel, Rizwan Haider Nadeem, to file a list of the legal heirs of the late prime minister Benazir Bhutto so that they could be added to the list of parties/legal heirs.

The plaintiff seeks allocation of shares to and partition of the properties, including 70-Clifton, Karachi, and Al Murtaza, Larkana. A judge had passed a preliminary decree allocating the shares. But Mrs Ghinwa Bhutto, widow of Mir Murtaza Bhutto, Z.A. Bhutto’s son, has sought its modification as it was passed in her absence. The application is pending.

Possession restored

Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, meanwhile, restored the possession of petitioner Edward Henry Louis over house number C-9-A/1, Punjab Colony, Karachi.

Advocates Khalid Imran and Shahzad Wilson maintained on behalf of the petitioner that he was in possession of the property as its purchaser since 1984, though a legal dispute between him and the original owner or seller was pending. The original owner transferred the property to another person pending the litigation. While the civil dispute was still awaiting disposal, the subsequent purchaser moved a criminal application against their client under the Illegal Dispossession Act, 2005. An additional sessions judge passed an interim order directing the Frere police station SHO to evict the first purchaser and hand over possession to the new claimant.

The counsel argued that under Section 7 of the 2005 Act, an interim order could be passed only after the framing of the charge. Then, the eviction order was to be addressed to the person alleged to be illegally occupying the disputed property and not to the SHO. Finally, they contended, the 2005 Act could not be given retrospective effect to disturb old possession. The Act, they submitted, was aimed at providing an expeditious remedy against land grabbers and not against parties involved in civil disputes.

DPO summoned

Justice Amir Hani Muslim, meanwhile, directed the district police officer of Shahdadpur, Altaf Husain Leghari, to appear in person on Nov 17 to apprise the court of the measures taken to provide security to under-trial prisoners and others at court premises.

The judge is conducting an inquiry into a report sent by the district and sessions judge about killing of UTPs at the court premises. About three lives had been lost in two violent incidents at the district courts. Assistant Advocate-General Adnan Karim Memon, who is assisting the court, was told to ensure the presence of the DPO on the next date.