ISLAMABAD, April 28: The Supreme Court the other day granted permission to a Malaysian Company Felda to build a jetty at Port Qasim.

The Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar accepted the appeal of Felda by setting aside the Sindh High Court's (SHC) stay against the company and allowed it to construct the jetty as per the provisions of the contract awarded by the authority.

Port Qasim Authority had auctioned a contract to Felda worth billion of rupees to construct a jetty at the port. However another company I. Puri & Company, the bid of which was rejected by the Authority had challenged the contract to Felda in SHC, which in turn stayed the operation of the award. As a consequence Felda moved the Supreme Court against the SHC orders.

Senior lawyer S.M.Zafar the counsel of Felda argued before the court that the contract was awarded in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Authority and as such the SHC stay should be vacated.

Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan appearing on behalf of I. Puri stated that one of the directors of the Felda company Jan Basheer Ahmed was a member of the Board of Port Qasim Authority, because of which the award of the contract was given to Felda.

However, Mr Zafar argued that Jan Basheer was a an external member of the Port Qasim Board for being a representative of Chamber of Commerce and not a part of Port Qasim Authority.