KARACHI, Feb 18: The Sindh High Court vacated on Wednesday its order staying the 'invalidation' or 'cancellation' of the old, manual national identity cards.

The division bench hearing a writ petition against the cut-off date, however, fixed March 16 for detailed arguments on the issues raised by petitioner-lawyer Shaukat Ali Shaikh and appointed Advocates Munir A. Malik and Mansoorul Arifeen as amici curiae in the case.

Deputy Attorney-General Syed Zaki Mohammad submitted the federal interior ministry comments on the petition. The ministry said a line had to be drawn somewhere if a national database was to be prepared, identity cards were to be computerized and fake cards issued earlier were to be eliminated.

The National Database and Registration Authority Ordinance 2000 had validated the old cards for two years. The period expired in March 2002 but the government, duly empowered in this behalf by the ordinance, extended the validity period from time to time till January 31, 2004.

An indefinite extension in the deadline, the ministry maintained, would defeat the very purpose and intent of the Nadra Ordinance. It supported the Nadra claim that the old card holders should display greater vigilance and obtain the new cards and that invalidation of the old cards would persuade people to approach the authority without further delay.

Advocate Shaikh submitted that Nadra had not shown efficiency and promptitude in issuing new cards. It was given two years to complete its task but a large number of people had yet to be supplied the new cards.

It was charging a hefty amount not only for issuing the new cards but also for rectifying mistakes committed by it. No guidance was available to the people to fill in the complicated application forms. The old cards could be invalidated only when the new cards had been issued, the lawyer argued.

The bench, which consisted of Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali and S. Ali Aslam Jafri, observed that the authority should not work as a commercial organization. Representing Nadra, Advocates Faisal Kamal Alam and Afnan Karim Kundi submitted that the organization was not earning any profit on the new cards.

The amount charged as fee barely covered the expenses incurred by it. Vacating its stay order, the bench adjourned the hearing to March 16 for further arguments.