HYDERABAD: A division bench of Sindh High Court’s Mirpurkhas circuit has suspended the notification for the posting of a union committee secretary after the move was claimed unlawful.

The constitutional petition in this regard was filed by Kunri’s UC-23 Chairman, Mohammad Haroon Memon through Advocate Jawad Qureshi.

The bench issued notices to the Local Government secretary of housing and town planning asking him to submit his para-wise comments.

The matter was fixed for July 29.

The petitioner submitted in court that the nomenclature of the ‘UC-23 Kunri Memon’ was changed to ‘UC Shaheed Raja Iqbal Memon’ on April 27, 2022 in contravention of the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013. He claimed that the March 2, 2026 order, under which former secretary Soofi Ghulam Mustafa, was re-posted was illegal. Mr Mustafa held the post for three years, the petitioner stated.

The petitioner informed court said Raja Iqbal Memon was the brother of former UC chairman Yaseen Memon. Raja was murdered on account of a family rivalry and his brother, Ghulam Yaseen Memon, being then UC chairman demanded that the UC be named after his slain brother.

The petitioner said that it was done in violation of Section 86 of SLGA 2013. He said the decision was aimed at pleasing the former UC chairman.

He said when he [the petitioner] became the UC-23 Chairman, he inquired into financial affairs and found records, documents and furniture missing. When he contacted the UC secretary regarding, he gave evasive replies and his staff stated that all these documents and articles had been taken away by the former chairman.

The same were not handed over to the UC despite repeated requests, he said, and alleged that millions of funds were misappropriated.

The petitioner stated that he had requested the former UC secretary to present a record of funds but was declined. He said the respondent LG secretary had a ppointed Soofi Ghulam Mohammad as UC-23 secretary but the UC’s funds were not released for eight months on the ground that the UC fell in the list of defunct UCs.

Upon the petitioner’s repeated representations, Mohammad Usman was appointed as secretary on Jan 27 which enabled him to discharge his responsibilities diligently as previous secretaries never complied with his directives, the petitioner said.

Shortly afterwards, he said, the former chairman used his influence and got secretary transferred through the March 2, 2026 notification and Soofi Ghulam Mustafa was re-posted.

He stated that a resolution was passed on March 5, 2026 in the UC to recommend transfer of Ghulam Mustafa for a smooth working of the UC but the LG secretary did not consider it.

The court was prayed to set aside the renaming of the UC Kunri Memon and declare the sudden transfer of secretary illegal.

The petitioner said that former secretary Usman Chandio should be reposted as secretary.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2026