KARACHI, Feb 7: Justice Gulzar Ahmed of the Sindh High Court has adjourned the hearing of a contempt application against a member of the provincial board of revenue to enable him to file his rejoinder.

Mohammad Khalid Soomro, BoR member for land utilisation, who had a bailable warrant issued against him to ensure his presence, appeared on Wednesday along with Additional Advocate-General M Ahmed Pirzada and sought time for filing his reply.

Adjourning the hearing to February 28, the court told the Additional Advocate-General that he would not be able to represent the alleged contemnor, who should engage a private counsel of his choice. The contempt cases are to be prosecuted by the advocate-general under the rules.

Applicant Mohammad Farooq has stated that he purchased 234 acres of land along the Super Highway near Nooriabad, Jamshoro district, in a public auction ordered by the High Court in 1990. The land belonged to a private company under liquidation.

The BoR member, however, issued a notice to the purchaser recently saying that the land belonged to the provincial government and could not have been sold as company property in litigation.

His counsel, Shaukat Ali Shaikh argued that the notice under Section 164 of the Land Revenue Act could not be issued in respect of land sold under judicial orders.

The provision was meant to cancel wrongful allotment or sale by subordinate staff of the Board of Revenue. By issuing the notice in respect of a court-supervised transaction, the BoR member has committed contempt of court and should be tried for it, he maintained.