KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Thursday restrained the federal government from notifying the appointment of chairman of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) till further order.

The direction was given by a single bench of the high court while hearing a lawsuit against the interior ministry for fixing 55 years as maximum age for the incumbent.

The lawsuit was filed by Mohammad Rashid Qureshi, who said that the age limit was fixed with mala fide intent in a bid to exclude him from the candidature for the post as he was highly qualified holding a Masters degree in science with extensive experience in management and administration in different institutions.

In another case, court asks IGP to personally oversee probe into extrajudicial killings

He said that the interior ministry circulated an advertisement in leading newspapers, inviting applications for appointment against the post of Nadra chairman, in which the age limit for the post has been arbitrarily fixed at 55 years with mala fide intent in a bid to exclude him from the candidature for the post.

His counsel, Advocate Malik Naeem Iqbal, contended that the Nadra Ordinance made no mention whatsoever of any such age restriction.

He pointed out that the criteria set out with regard to the professional qualifications required of the Nadra chairman emphasised that the individual in question must possess a wealth of experience in relevant areas, given the importance and challenging nature of the position.

He argued that a maximum age limit would, therefore, directly undermine the aforementioned objective, as enunciated by the legislature, as it would serve to exclude the most qualified applicants.

Furthermore, the counsel said, according to the scheme of the ordinance a person could be appointed till the age of 65 years.

He said that his client despite his high credentials could not apply for the post in question.

The plaintiff prayed to the court to declare that the impugned advertisement was illegal, unlawful and to strike it down.

He also requested the court to permanently restrain the interior ministry from considering/processing/appointing anyone pursuant to the process undertaken on the basis of impugned advertisement.

The bench adjourned the hearing to Feb 13 and ordered: “Till next date of hearing, if the notification of appointment of Nadra chairman is issued that shall be subject to the further order of this court”.

“Half fried and full fried” cases

Meanwhile, a division bench directed the provincial police chief, A.D. Khowaja to supervise the interrogation of all ‘half fried and full fried’ (a police jargon used for injuring and killing suspects in fake encounters) cases and sought a report in this regard.

The bench was hearing a petition of the father of Abdul Jabbar Talpur, a youth from Matiari who was allegedly killed after being detained by law-enforcement agencies two years ago.

The petitioner submitted that his son Jabbar and brother were taken into custody and later Jabbar was killed in a fake encounter.

He alleged that Nawabshah SP confessed before a joint investigation team that the police wanted to ‘half fry’ (arrest in injured condition) Jabbar but mistakenly he got ‘full fried’ (killed).

The bench expressed dissatisfaction on provincial task force report and asked the inspector general of police to supervise the investigation of extrajudicial killings himself and submit the report before it.

It also summoned the Matiari SHO in the next hearing.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2018