KARACHI, April 28: A division bench of the Sindh High Court on Wednesday named a senior lawyer as amicus curiae to address arguments on the liability of the head of an organization for an offence allegedly committed by its employees.

The order was made by Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and Muhammad Afzal Soomro on a writ petition moved by former postmaster-general (southern zone) Basir Ahmed Shaikh for his release on bail. The petitioner is involved in a reference being tried by an accountability court. He is charged, together with six other accused, with misappropriation of Rs284.3 million from the savings accounts maintained by the City Courts post office savings bank.

Appearing for the petitioner, Advocate Iqtidar Ali Hashmi said his client was innocent and had wrongly been implicated on the basis of a dubious letter allegedly issued by him for re- employment of the main accused, Izhar Hussain Siddiqui, as honorary secretary to the Post Office assistant director (legal) after his retirement.

The letter, the counsel said, nowhere stated that the main accused was authorized to solicit or accept deposits on behalf of the savings bank. The petitioner could not be held criminally liable for the wrongs committed by his subordinates. There was no specific allegation against him and the amount embezzled by him was not mentioned in the reference.

Contesting the petition on behalf of the National Accountability Bureau, Advocate Amanullah Khan submitted that the main accused was admittedly re-employed after his retirement and allowed to work at the post office by the petitioner.

He worked as the PMG (Sindh) from 1995 to 2000. The re-employment order or letter was issued by him in 1998. The lawyer said an accountability court had taken cognizance of the offence and the reference was fixed for framing of charge.

The high court's jurisdiction under Article 199 of the Constitution was discretionary and, according to a recent Supreme Court judgment, could not be exercised in favour of offenders charged with corruption and misappropriation of public money. The bench asked Barrister Azizullah Shaikh to assist the court on the issue of liability and adjourned hearing till May 5.