Karachi – The Sindh High Court issued a notice to the advocate-general of Sindh in the matter of appointment of judges for the Special Courts under the Sindh Public Property (removal of encroachment) Act.
Hearing an application on the arrest of four people by the Bin Qasim Town police under the encroachment charges, the court observed that the vires of the Sindh Public Property (removal of encroachment) Act were prima facie violative of articles 175, 202 and 203 of the Constitution and of various superior court judgments.
Muzamil Shah, Javed Shah and others submitted in their application that they had been arrested by the Bin Qasim police under false encroachment charges, but due to lack of Special Courts under the Act they were incarcerated in prison without a right to approach a court for their release.
The application was converted into a petition by the court with the observation that how judicial powers were being used without the establishment of required courts, and the law department was asked to file comments on the petition.
The law department informed the court that two presiding officers had been appointed for special courts in Karachi and Hyderabad respectively under
the Sindh Public Property (removal of encroachment) Act.
The court, after perusal of the Act and the notifications on the appointment of the presiding officers by the government, observed that the matter shall be dealt with on the judicial side as the government could not appoint any person to exercise judicial powers unless the government sought the consent or consulted with the chief justice of the High Court.
The court, adjourning the matter, issued a notice to the advocate-general of Sindh as vires and interpretation of the provincial law was involved in the matter. The office was directed to fix the matter after two weeks.
WATAN CARDS: The Sindh High Court issued notices to the deputy attorney-general and the advocate-general of Sindh, revenue officials and others on a petition of flood victims against non-issuance of the Watan cards.
Abdul Razak and others submitted that they had been residents of Sujawal and Thatta and were badly affected by last year’s floods in different areas of the province.
NAB CHAIRMAN’S APPOINTMENT: The petitions regarding the appointment of the National Accountability Bureau chairman have been adjourned for one month.
The petitioners, Rasheed A Akhund and Siddiq Mirza, had assailed the appointment of the chairman of NAB, Justice (retd) Deedar Hussain Shah, and sought a writ of quo warranto against him.
Source: The News
Date:2/23/2011
