KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday extended till Oct 29 the interim pre-arrest bail of former Karachi nazim and Pak Sarzameen Party chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal and others in a reference about alleged illegal allotment of land.

The two-judge SHC bench headed by Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M. Shaikh partly heard arguments of a prosecutor for the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the bail applications during Tuesday’s proceedings and will continue his arguments at the next hearing.

In July, the SHC had granted interim pre-arrest bail to Mr Kamal, then executive district officer Iftikhar Kaimkhani and others.

NAB had filed a reference against the former nazim and others in June regarding alleged illegal allotment of around 5,500 square yards of commercial land to Bahria Town for a multistorey building in Clifton.

The then district coordination officer Fazlur Rehman, district officer Mumtaz Haider, additional DO Syed Nishat Ali, sub-registrar-II, Clifton Nazir Zardari and builders Zain Malik, son-in-law of real estate tycoon Malik Riaz, Mohammad Dawood, Moh­am­mad Yaqoob, Mohammad Irfan and Mohammad Rafiq, all associated with DJ Builders and Developers, are also named accused in the reference.

Notices issued

Another two-judge bench of the SHC on Tuesday reissued notices to the deputy attorney general and some respondents on a petition against the construction of a high-rise building on a plot, said to be meant for amenity purposes, in a cantonment area on Rashid Minhas Road.

Through their counsel Moiz Jafari, the petitioners had petitioned the SHC and contended that the tower was being built on an amenity plot, adjacent to a cinema, in Askari-V.

The bench headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi allowed three applications, seeking to become interveners in the case, and also issued fresh notices to the deputy attorney general and some of the respondents for next hearing.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2019