KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday warned the chief secretary and others of stern action if the appointment of the chairman of the Sindh Textbook Board (STB) was not made within 15 days.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Nadeem Akhtar put the chief secretary on notice with a direction to file a compliance report till March 19.

On March 20, 2018, the SHC had directed the chief secretary and education secretary to appoint the chairman and members of the STBB within one month.

Advocate Haider Imam Rizvi, the lawyer for applicant/intervener, submitted that despite the lapse of around two years, the respondents failed to comply with the order and pleaded to initiate contempt proceedings against them.

When the matter came up for hearing before the bench, the secretary of the school education and literacy department, Khalid Hyder Shah, appeared in court and filed an explanation.

Nadra is ready to help Sindh govt in making a centralised database to curb fake domiciles, PRCs

The additional secretary of the services, general administration and coordination department (SGA&CD), Zaman Narejo, was also in attendance.

The bench stated in the order that after hearing the lawyers for petitioner and applicant, additional advocate general, Sindh, school education secretary and the additional secretary at considerable length, it was of the clear view that the order passed on March 20, 2018 had not been complied with by the chief secretary and education secretary.

The bench was assured that the order would be complied with in letter and spirit by appointing the STB chairman within 15 days and that a copy of the notification would be placed before it on the next date of hearing.

The court made it clear that stern action would be taken not only against the school education secretary and additional secretary-SGA&CD, but also against the Sindh chief secretary in case of non-compliance of the directives.

The court issued a notice to the chief secretary for March 19 to file a compliance report.

Issuance of domiciles to non-Karachi residents

The National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) on Wednesday informed an SHC division bench that it was ready to extend technical facilitation to provincial authorities about the issuance of domiciles and permanent residence certificates (PRCs).

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan leader Khawaja Izharul Hasan and others had filed a petition against the issuance of domiciles and PRCs to the people not residing in Karachi and sought formulation of a policy with regard to the issuance of the two important documents.

When the matter came up for hearing before the bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, Nadra informed the bench that the matter came within the domain of the provincial government, but the court called the authority for assistance to prefer proposals and feasibilities for centralisation of Sindh’s domicile data with integration and safety measures to avoid issuance of domiciles in urban areas of Sindh in violation of prescribed rules.

Nadra suggested some proposals including extending technical support for issuance of birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates, which would also lead to a provincial data management in relevant fields sharing with the Nadra database.

Hence, the project for a provincial centralised data management system for issuance of domiciles through online applications with required filtration as per the Sindh Permanent Residence Certificate Rules 1971, formalities may be designed and suggested to combat issuance of domicile in violation of rules on a manual basis, it added.

The duplication of domicile to the same person may also be sorted out if a domicile-related database was maintained through conversion of manually issued previous domiciles into computerised formation as per the model of “arms licence project”, Nadra’s reply said.

However, it added that such proposals required appropriate reforms of the Sindh Government Rules through legislation.

The bench directed the provincial authorities to examine the comments of Nadra and file a reply till March 11.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2020