Car pool: Home department succeeds in reclaiming 65 vehicles from SHC

Govt promises to provide matching number of new cars.

KARACHI: A new dispute between the Sindh High Court and provincial government appears to have been averted for the time.

Friction developed with the administration of the high court on Monday but home department officials managed to reclaim scores of out-of-service and three- to four-year-old used cars.

A fuss was created just before noon when they came to drive away the 51 Suzuki Alto cars previously being used by senior civil judges, judicial officers, and 14 other Suzuki Cultus cars used by additional district and sessions judges. Home department officials promised that a matching number of vehicles, the latest model 1000 to 1300 cc cars, would be provided as replacements.

The policemen and court staff stood in their way. “The orders have come from the top and we have to follow it. We will take away these cars as they are the property of the Sindh government,” a witness quoted a home department official as saying.

Earlier, an auction announced by the Sindh High Court for Saturday was cancelled as the Sindh government reportedly objected to it  as the SHC is supposed to return these cars as they were owned by the provincial government. The home department wanted these vehicles for the central car pool from where these would be put to public auction.

A senior officer at the high court conceded that the rules of business supported the provincial government’s contention. “On many occasions we have returned the vehicles to the Sindh government. This time it came into notice as the lot was big,” he said.

When asked that if these vehicles were going to be returned, how did the high court announce an auction for Saturday (January 28), the official confirmed that the auction was cancelled at the eleventh hour. It was, however, confirmed by the same court officer that the chief justice allowed the vehicles to be returned to the home department on the condition that employees of the Sindh High Court would be invited to the auction and given preference in the bidding process if an ordinary bidder gives a matching bid.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2012.