KARACHI, Jan 31: The High Court of Sindh on Wednesday issued notices to the advisers to the Sindh chief minister in a petition against the appointments or presence of any adviser to the CM.

The division bench comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Muhammad Afzal Soomro has decided to further proceed in the petition moved by Munir Ahmed Chandio within three weeks.

On an application moved by the petitioner, submitting that the number of respondents/advisers in Sindh was 26 and it was not possible for him to know personal addresses of all of them, the bench has directed to serve notices through the chief protocol officer of Sindh before the next date of hearing.

Advocate Abdul Waheed Katpar, appearing for the petitioner, stated that the chief minister and governor of Sindh had been wrongly impleaded in the petition and requested to erase their names from the petition and that the Sindh province be added in the list of respondents through the chief secretary of Sindh.

The bench has also added the number of advisers in the list of respondents on a separate application submitting that initially seven advisers were nominated in the case due to ignorance of the petitioner. There are 26 advisers to the CM, of them 17 are without portfolio.

The petitioner has submitted that there was an army of ministers in the Sindh cabinet, which was, perhaps more than the very number of portfolios/departments in the Sindh cabinet.

He further submitted that it was reasonable to assume that such a large number of ministers must be capable of handling their portfolios/departments, without the assistance of any advisers.

Challenging the appointment of advisers, he argued that such appointments were a heavy burden on the province because each of the advisers was enjoying the status and perks of a minister.

Advisers Zulfiqar Kamariyo, Umer Sharif, Kishan Chand Parwani, Tariq Hussain, Z. Hussain Khusro, Dost Muhammad Memon and Nuzhat Pathan are also cited among other respondents.

Meanwhile, a division bench of the High Court of Sindh comprising Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery and Justice Munib Ahmed Khan on Wednesday set aside the conviction of a man by a the trial court in a narcotics case.

Appellants Abdul Majeed and Rasheed had challenged the life-terms awarded to them by a trial court in Sukkur.

The bench after hearing the arguments allowed the appeal and set aside the conviction. — APP