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KARACHI, Sept 30: The Supreme Court has disposed of the expelled Sindh Medical College students petitions for leave to appeal as not pressed.
About 63 students had sought leave to challenge a Sindh High Court full bench judgment dismissing their writ petitions against their ouster for having obtained admission to the SMC on bogus documents.
They submitted through Advocates Raja Qureshi, Mohammad Ismail Memon and other lawyers that they could not be deprived of their right to pursue their studies after attending classes and taking professional examinations as bona fide students.
The SHC had dismissed the petitions as they had fraudulently secured admission by usurping the right of deserving candidates. Sindh Advocate-General Anwar Mansoor Khan appeared for the provincial health department and the SMC.
The petitioners' counsel submitted before a three-member SC bench that they would not press the petitions if the court disposed them of on the basis of its decision in the case of Ms Rizwana Andleeb versus the Principal of Chandka Medical College, Larkana, and allowed the petitioners to move the university or any other authority for admission or migration to a private medical college for completion of their professional studies if found eligible under its rules and regulations.
The AG had no objection to the proposition and the petitions were disposed of by a consent order. The SC bench comprised Justices Hamid Ali Mirza, Mian Shakirullah Jan and Tasadduq Husain Jilani.
EXPLANATION SOUGHT: The Sindh High Court asked a member of the Sindh Assembly to appear in person to explain why he obstructed a Karachi Building Control Authority operation to demolish unauthorized and violative buildings on three plots in Keamari Town in pursuance of a court order.
A division bench, comprising Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Maqbool Baqar, passed the order after hearing Additional Advocate- General M. Ahmed Pirzada and KBCA counsel Shahid Jamil Khan and considering a report submitted by Keamari Town Building Control Officer Khwaja Moinuddin.
The SHC had directed the KBCA to demolish the buildings on plot number 24, 25 and 26 at Jungle Shah, Keamari Town, on three petitions moved by the Karachi Watch and Care Society.
The KBCA sought assistance from the DIG (Operations) and the town police officer to help it eject the illegal occupants and demolish the ground-plus-three-floor structures.
The Sui Southern Gas Company Limited was also conveyed the court order and requested to halt gas supply to the violative buildings. The advocate-general was requested to coordinate the operation and ensure, in particular, police assistance.
The SSGPL sought a copy of the court order, which was furnished, while the SHO, Jackson, warned the KBCA officials that 'a law and order situation might arise' if the occupants were ejected.
A meeting was held in AAG Ahmed Pirzada's office on Sept 28. The AAG asked the TPO to provide the requisite help, including lady police searchers, for the operation, which was scheduled to commence at 10.30 am on Sept 29.
As the KBCA officials and demolition squad reached the site with a police contingent, MPA Akhtar Jadoon and nazim of union council-3 accosted them at the head of about a 500-strong crowd.
The crowd threatened the KBCA officials and the MPA called for suspension of the operation 'as the law and order problem might take a serious turn'. He said about 500 families were living in the premises for the last three years and 'an alternative and peaceful solution should somehow be worked out'.
The KBCA complained that TPO Abdul Rashid Butt had made only half-hearted arrangements to facilitate the operation and the KBCA officials had to return from the site without undertaking the demolition work.
It requested the court to assign the ejectment operation to the police prior to demolition. The division bench summoned the MPA and adjourned further hearing till October 14.
TRADE TOWER: Justice S. Ali Aslam Jafri dismissed an application by the illegal occupants of the Trade Tower basement to restrain the KBCA from constructing a ramp for the parking lot. Khanani and Kalia and others submitted that the ramp was being built at the centre of the basement in violation of the approved plan.
KBCA counsel Shahid Jamil Khan said the ramp was being built at the centre of the basement 'as a matter of technical compulsion'. The builder failed to provide for parking in the basement and constructed shops instead.
The shops had been demolished as directed by the court and an appeal against the order had also been dismissed. The builder was bent upon reconstructing the shops.
The counsel submitted that Trade Tower was situated at a busy intersection of Haji Abdullah Road and parking space was essential for its occupants. Declining to stay the ramp construction, the court observed that the issue of conformity with the approved plan could be considered subsequently.
