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KARACHI, April 7: The Sindh High Court adjourned the hearing of a Karachi Building Control Authority petition for empowerment to April 13 on Wednesday. The KBCA counsel told a division bench comprising Justices Ghulam Rabbani and Mohammad Afzal Soomro that Advocate-General Anwar Mansoor Khan had assured another division bench in December 2003 that suggestions received from the various quarters about amendments to the Sindh Building Control Ordinance, 1979, including those made by the authority in its petition, would be seriously considered. He had sought adjournment for three months for formulating the provincial government's position on the issue.
Additional Advocate-General Qazi Khalid Ali submitted that the AG was busy elsewhere. He requested that the matter be adjourned to another date to enable the AG to appear.
NHA CASE: Another division bench comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Amir Hani Muslim asked the customs additional collector for appraisement to appear on Thursday and explain why the goods imported for the National Highway Authority's Motorway-I project were not released on March 13 as ordered by the court.
In a petition filed through Advocate Nisar A. Mujahid, the NHA submitted that the expansion joints imported by its former motorway contractor were seized by the customs authorities. Despite representations, the authorities decided to auction the consignment.
The NHA purchased the consignment at auction. The authorities failed to release the rubber joints, meant for two bridges to be constructed on the Islamabad-Peshawar motorway, even after receiving the bid amount from the NHA. Allowing the petition, the bench had directed the customs additional collector to release the imported joints, worth over Rs180 million, to the NHA.
