KARACHI, Aug 20: A division bench of Sindh High Court, comprising Chief Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad and Justice Syed Zawwar Hussain Jaffery, dismissed in limine an appeal filed by Shahid Umar , former owner of the land which was auctioned and allotted to another bidder.
The appellant impugned an order of a single-bench high court which had dismissed his application for staying the auction and later handing over the possession of 636 square yards in a prime area of Saddar.
The appellant challenged the lease rights for 99 years and stated that it was in the violation of city government laws. When the appeal came up for hearing, Abbas Ali and K.A. Wahab, counsel for respondent Mohammad Asif, said the appeal was not maintainable.
EDO Law Manzoor Ahmed also supported the contentions of respondent. Taking serious notice of unnecessary litigation, the bench observed that the appellant had misused the process of law and dismissed the appeal in limine.
STAY ORDERED: A bench of Sindh High Court, comprising Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Maqbool Baqar restrained a contractor from raising construction on a plot in Lyari till further orders.
The bench was hearing a constitutional petition filed by the Karachi Watch and Care Society against the owner and the contractor for raising construction on a plot LY12/64, D.D. Choudhry Road, Lyari.
The Sindh High Court also appointed Aamir Raza Naqvi, advocate, as commissioner on a request by the counsel for petitioner and asked the commissioner to inspect the said area. The court also directed Aamir Raza Naqvi to prepare a report about the present status of construction on the said plot. Later, the bench put off hearing till August 31.
BAIL DISMISSED: An appellate bench of the Sindh High Court, comprising Justice Wahid Bukhsh Brohi and Justice Rehmat Hussain Jafferi, dismissed as withdrawn a bail application filed by Pervaiz Ahmed Dahri, who was sentenced in absentia to three-years imprisonment by an accountability court in Karachi.
The applicant is the son-in-law of Allah Dino Dahri, former executive engineer in communication and works department facing trial before Accountability Court-V on charge of accumulating wealth and property beyond his known sources. The alleged ill- gotten wealth was stated to be around Rs238.518 million.
The applicant absconded when Allah Dino Dahri was arrested and faced the trial. Allah Dino Dahri was later sentenced to a seven-year term and was disqualified from holding any official or public position for a period of 10 years.
The present applicant was declared absconder and was also sentenced to a three year jail term in absentia. Later, he moved the bail application before the Sindh High Court.
When the bail plea came up for hearing on Friday, Ali Ahmed Junejo, advocate, appearing for the applicant requested to allow withdrawal of the bail application as he intended to file a constitutional petition for the same relief. The bench allowing the request dismissed the bail application as withdrawn.
CONFINEMENT CHALLENGED: The illegal confinement of two activists of banned Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, who were recently acquitted in sectarian killing cases after incarceration of 10 years, was challenged in the Sindh High Court on Friday.
According to the application, the law-enforcement agencies arrested the General Secretary of Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, Sindh chapter, Hafiz Ahmed Bukhsh and an activist Mansoor Ali Babar, soon after their release outside the jail.
Rehana Begum, mother of Mansoor Ali Babar, and Qari Mohammad Sadiq, brother of Ahmed Bukhsh, submitted in identical petitions that law enforcement agencies took Mansoor on August 13 while arrested Hafiz Ahmed on August 19, soon after their release.
They alleged that police confined the two activists without any reason in different police stations in Karachi and expressed apprehension about lives of the detainees. Their counsel Maqboolur Rehman submitted that life of the detainees were at stake at hand of police officials.
He prayed the court to order production of the detainee before court and release him if not involved in any case. The court was also pleaded that legal action be taken against the police officials on charge of illegally confining the detainee in their custody in flagrant violation of Articles 9,10 and 14 of the Constitution. Sindh Home Department, DIG Police, DIG CID, TPO and SHO of New Town, SHO New Karachi and others were named as respondents in the petitions.
ZARDARI's APPEAL: A division bench of Sindh High Court, comprising Justice Wahid Bukhsh Brohi and Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery, adjourned on Friday the hearing of the appeal of Hakim Ali Zardari, an ex-MNA and father-in-law of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, against judgment of an accountability court in National Accountability Bureau reference.
The matter could not be taken up as the court was told that defence counsel Azizullah Sheikh was engaged in another bench of SHC and adjournment was sought. The court granting the request fixed the matter for date to be fixed by office.
The accountability court had sentenced Hakim Ali Zardari to five-year rigorous imprisonment on July 11, 2002, with a fine of Rs10.85 million in NAB reference 07/2001 regarding purchase of property in France in early 1990's.
It was alleged in the reference that the appellant purchased property in Normady disproportionate to his known source of income and did not show it in his assets statement before the Election Commission.
Meanwhile, a division bench of Sindh High Court, comprising Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Maqbool Baqar, ordered on Friday medical checkup of main accused in Kutchery Post Office fraud case at the National Institute of Cardio-vascular Diseases.
Earlier, Maula Bukhsh Bhatti, counsel for the accused facing trial before an accountability court, submitted that his client was a chronic heart patient and his health condition had deteriorated to a great extent.
Shaukat H. Zubedi, Deputy Prosecutor General of National Accountability Bureau raised no objection to the request at which the bench allowing the same ordered that the accused/applicant be shifted to the NICVD for angiography and other treatment for heart problem.
According to the reference, the accused who was retired from the said post office was allowed to work at the same place. By misusing the position, he defrauded more than a hundred account holders, mostly senior advocates and swindled millions of rupees. -PPI/APP