KARACHI, April 17: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday stayed the transfer of immovable assets of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited to Etisalat, purchaser of 26 per cent of PTCL shares, and issued notices to the federal government, Privatisation Commission, Etisalat and other respondents for May 15.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Gulzar Ahmed also directed the Privatisation Commission to inform the court about the payment of bid money made by the new purchaser.

The privatisation deal has been challenged by Haji Khan Bhatti, president of the PTCL Lions Staff Union, through advocate M. A. K. Azmati. The petitioner says there was no justification for privatisation of 26 per cent shares of a profit-earning public sector concern of strategic importance. The shares have been sold cheap and when the purchaser failed to pay the instalments in US dollars, the commission and the government agreed to accept payments in the rupee over a period of five years. Obviously, the price would be paid from the earnings of the PTCL. The deal, the petitioner said, was non-transparent because the bargain had not been made public.

The petitioner said the PTCL owned prime immovable property all over Pakistan. The property could not be transferred to Etisalat because it had only purchased 26 per cent shares of the company. He sought an interim injunction against the transfer of the assets to Etisalat. The entire process of privatisation and subsequent transaction was repugnant to Article 173 of the Constitution, which empowered federal and provincial governments to acquire or transfer property, he said and requested the court to set it aside.