KARACHI: The Sindh High Court was informed on Monday that the parents of the two siblings who died from consuming poisonous food at a restaurant in Clifton had pardoned the owner of the eatery and others.

The owner of the restaurant, Nadeem Mumtaz, had already obtained interim pre-arrest bail from the SHC while the two detained employees of the restaurant through their lawyer moved the SHC to seek post-arrest bail.

The matter was fixed before a single bench of the SHC headed by Justice Nazar Akbar on Monday. Lawyer for the applicants Khawaja Naveed Ahmed said that the parents of the children appeared before the bench and informed it that they had forgiven the suspects “in the name of Allah”.

The counsel added that no written application was filed in the SHC as the couple verbally deposed that they were pardoning the suspects. Therefore, the bench directed them to approach the trial court, he added.

SHC seeks record of previous fee structure of private schools by Jan 28

The prosecution said that the health of one-and-a-half-year-old Tufail Ahmed, his brother Mohammed Omar, 4, and their mother, Ayesha Ihsan, had deteriorated at their home in Defence on Nov 10, 2018 when they reached there after eating food at the Arizona Grill restaurant in Zamzama, Clifton. Later, both children died while the laboratory reports confirmed that the siblings died from food poisoning as poisonous bacteria was found in the food of the restaurant, it added.

The owner and employees of the restaurant have been booked under sections 322 (punishment for qatl-bis-sabab), 272 (adulteration of food or drink intended for sale) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Sahil police station.

School fee

Another bench of the SHC on Monday ordered the director general of the directorate of inspection of private schools to produce record of the last approved fee structure of private schools by Jan 28.

The three-member bench of the SHC, headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, was hearing contempt of court applications over non-implementation of its judgement regarding enhancement in annual tuition fee. It also granted time to the schools to file a copy of the Supreme Court order and compliance reports.

The counsel for private schools submitted that an order was passed by the Supreme Court on Jan 10 about reduction in school fee, but they were not in a position to place on record the copy of such an order and sought time for a certified copy of the apex court order.

The lawyers for two private schools also sought time to come up with compliance reports of the Supreme Court order to deposit the refundable amount, which was charged over five per cent from the last fee schedule.

The bench directed the DG of the directorate of inspection of private schools, Mansoob Siddiqui, to place on record the last approved fee structure in respect of respondents and the alleged contemnors through a statement at the next hearing.

It further observed that since the apex court was seized with the matters relating to enhancement of fee by private schools and the appeal filed against the judgement passed by this bench on Sept 3 was also a subject matter of such an appeal, whereas the apex court had also passed an interim order in such appeals, therefore, it was appropriate to adjourn the matter.

The parents of a large number of students enrolled in various private schools across Karachi filed applications seeking contempt of court proceedings against the management of four schools — Beaconhouse School System, Foundation Public School, Head Start School System and the City School — for allegedly defying the Sept 3 judgement of the bench which had ruled that the private schools could not enhance the annual tuition fees by more than five per cent.

They also impleaded the education department and the directorate of inspection of private schools as respondents for their alleged failure to enforce the judgement.

The lawyers for the applicants contended that despite the SHC judgement, the schools had enhanced the tuition fee by more than five per cent.

On Sept 3, the same bench had declared the enhancement in annual tuition fees by more than five per cent by the private schools and institutions as illegal and directed their managements to refund it within three months.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2019