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KARACHI, Nov 20: The Sindh High Court on Thursday asked its registrar to arrange and supervise the annual elections of the Karachi Electronic Dealers Association within two months.
The order was passed with the consent of rival groups involved in litigation over the arrangements and conduct of the polls. A member of the association moved a petition saying that some of the incumbent office-bearers were tampering with the membership and voters’ list. He sought an injunction against the sitting executive of the association and requested the court to appoint an impartial judicial dignitary to oversee the preparation of the voters’ list and make arrangements for the polls.
Former SHC judges S.A. Sarwana and Ataur Rahman were simultaneously appointed election commissioners by consent but they excused themselves on account of professional engagements.
As the petition came up before a division bench comprising Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Ghulam Dastgir A. Shahani on Thursday, the two parties agreed on the appointment of the SHC registrar for supervising the conduct of polls and other related matters. He would be paid Rs200,000 by the association.
PIA referendum
The bench, meanwhile, issued a notice to the National Industrial Relations Commission for Friday in a petition by the Air League, an employees’ union of the Pakistan International Airlines contesting a referendum for the collective bargaining agent scheduled from Nov 24 to Dec 4.
Representing the petitioner union, Advocate M.A. Ghani Chaudhry submitted that about 808 PIA employees promoted from group IV to group V without any change in their status as ‘workmen’ had not been listed as voters. Another 580 employees had gone to perform Haj. A genuinely democratic referendum for a truly representative CBA could not be held in their absence.
He sought a direction for enlistment of the newly promoted group V employees and rescheduling of the referendum to enable the pilgrim voters to cast their ballots.
KDA engineers’ plea
Another bench consisting of Justices Khilji Arif Hussain and Dr Qamaruddin Bohra directed that notices be issued to the chief secretary and other respondents in a petition moved by seven engineers of the Karachi Development Authority, merged into the city district government, against the respondents’ refusal to promote them.
They submitted through Advocate Mohammad Nawaz Shaikh that the governing body of the defunct KDA had passed a resolution in June 1997 to wind up its engineering wing and make no fresh appointments or promotions.
However, the governing body scrapped its resolution in the following October and restored the wing to its original position. Yet the repealed resolution was continued to be followed even after the merger of the KDA into the city government under the Sindh Local Government Odinance of 2001.
The petitioners said they joined the authority in the mid-1970s and were promoted to grades 19 and 18 as per their seniority in 1984 and 1987. No promotion had since been granted to them while their junior colleagues working in the CDGK’s predecessor, the Karachi Municipal Corporation, had been duly promoted.
Petition disposed of
The bench headed by the CJ disposed of a petition moved by Mumtaz Ali Dahiri, Taluka Nazim of Daulatpur, district of Nawabshah, when assistant advocate-general Adnan Karim Memon submitted a list of eight criminal cases pending in courts of law against the petitioner and his brother.
The petitioner had alleged harassment and sought a list of cases registered against him. Disposing of his petition, the bench observed that the petitioner be dealt with in accordance with the law.
Meanwhile, the bench also issued notices to the Karachi Central Prison superintendent and other respondents in a petition moved by bullion trader Kamran Khan Tessori’s mother through Advocate Khwaja Naveed Ahmed alleging that contrary to their assurance to the court, the authorities were not allowing her and other members of the under-trial prisoner’s family to meet him in jail.
Encroachment
Another division bench consisting of Justices Qaiser Iqbal and Syed Mahmood Alam Rizvi asked the Karachi Building Control Authority to demolish illegal constructions raised by encroachers in front of the Alamgir Rayon Mills in the Sindh Industrial and Trading Estate.
Advocate Yousuf Maulvi submitted on behalf of the petitioner that neither the Site administration nor the CDGK nor the KBCA were willing to take the responsibility for the removal of encroachments.
He requested the court to affix the responsibility and order demolition of unlawful structures.
