KARACHI, Nov 5: A division bench of the Sindh High Court on Monday put on notice the Nazim of Gulshan-i-Iqbal Town and the SHO of Gulistan-i-Jauhar police station and other respondents for Tuesday, Nov 6, in a case filed by an operator of Wednesday Bachat Bazaar.
The bench comprised Justice Ghulam Nabi Soomro and Justice Ataur Rahman.
Rahmat Ali, owner of the bazaar, moved the court against the SHO of Gulistan-i-Jauhar police station, Nazim of the Union Council 10, Nazim of Gulshan Town, municipal coordinator of the Town, district officer land revenue of the city government, additional director Bureau of Supply and Prices and advocate-general Sindh.
Abdul Mujeeb Pirzada, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the petitioner had been organizing the bazaar since 1995, and in 1998 the bazar was shifted to its present place near Aladin Park on a private land owned by Wasif Wazeer Associates.
He maintained that the petitioner had paid all the required fees and even a sum of Rs10,000 to the Nazim of the UC 10, but the area police, at the behest of the Nazim, removed the tents and prevented him from holding the bachat bazaar.
The counsel for the petitioner submitted that all relevant quarters had given No-objection Certificate to the petitioner, and recently the AD of the Bureau of Supply and Prices had written a letter to the Nazim for not disturbing the bazaar as it was a policy of both the federal and provincial governments to ensure the supply of essential items to the public at low prices.
After initial hearing, the court put all the respondents on notice.- APP
REMANDED: Justice Shabbir Ahmed, Administrative Judge of the anti-terrorism courts for Karachi Division, remanded an accused in a vehicle hijacking case in the custody of the Buffer Zone police till Nov 8.
Police arrested accused Faisal Hasan on Sunday on an information. He was accused of hijacking a Hiace van on April 18. He was booked under different section of PPC.
Justice Ahmed refused a remand request by the Pak Colony police which produced four accused booked in an alleged kidnapping case. The judge held that as the kidnapping was admittedly because of a dispute over money and no demand for ransom was involved, the case was triable by a sessions court and not an anti-terrorism court.
NOTICE TO AG: An appellate bench of the Sindh High Court issued on Monday notice to the advocate-general Sindh for Nov 17 on an appeal filed by a former assistant director of the Karachi Development Authority, Mirza Zahid Amin, against his conviction.
The bench, comprising Justice Ghulam Nabi Soomro and Justice Ataur Rahman, was hearing an appeal challenging the impugned judgment of the accountability court III Karachi, by which the court convicted the appellant on charges of corruption and corrupt practices as defined under section 9 of the National Accountability Bureau Ordinance 1999 and living beyond means.
The court also admitted the appeal for regular hearing and fixed Nov 17 the next date of hearing.
The appellant’s counsel took the plea that his client did nothing against the law and never misused his official authority. He submitted that the trial court erred in pronouncing judgment, which was liable to be set aside.
On Oct 18, Judge Rahmat Husain Jaffery of the AC-III awarded him five years’ rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs5 million. The court also disqualified him from holding any public office for 10 years.
According to the prosecution, convict/appellant Mirza Zahid Amin, when posted as assistant director at the KDA, misused his official authority and earned millions of rupees illegally, thereby causing a huge loss to the exchequer. He acquired many properties in posh localities in the name of his wife and children, which he could not afford to buy with his known source of income.—APP/PPI