KARACHI, March 31: The Sindh High Court asked the Pakistan Post Office on Wednesday to deposit Rs100 million out of the deposits admittedly misappropriated at its City Courts savings centre with the SHC nazir within 15 days.

The PPO had admitted in its comments on a number of petitions filed by lawyers and other depositors, who had their accounts at the savings centre, that over Rs298 million was misappropriated by Izhar Hussain Siddiqui, its employee who continued to work at the centre long after his retirement. (The case has since been taken up by the National Accountability Bureau, which had arrested a number of other postal employees for complicity in the crime).

While admitting misappropriation, the PPO, however, expressed its inability, in response to a suggestion made by an SHC division bench comprising Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali and S. Ali Aslam Jafri, to deposit an equal amount with the SHC nazir for refund to the defrauded depositors.

It said any amount meant for refund would have to be drawn from the public exchequer for payment to a specific claimant on the authority of sanction by the competent authority.

The post office instead requested the court to examine the claims in accordance with the law and undertook to make payments of the claims accepted by it within 15 days.

The petitions came up before another division bench comprising Justices Shabbir Ahmed and Khilji Arif Hussain. Accepting a plea made by Advocate Abdul Hafeez Pirzada on behalf of the petitioners, the bench asked the PPO to deposit Rs100 million with the SHC nazir within 15 days.

The SHC official assignee would, meanwhile, examine the claims of the depositors. Deputy Attorney-General Syed Zaki Mohammad could be associated with the process. Further action would be taken after compliance of Wednesday's order had been reported by the nazir.

The Sindh Bar Council, meanwhile, moved a writ petition stating that over Rs8 million of its funds deposited with the savings centre had been embezzled. The petition has been moved by Advocate Mustafa Lakhani and other SBC members through Advocate Abrar Hasan, chairman of the council's executive committee. The funds were meant for payment to the dependents of deceased lawyers.