Chief Justice wants special gas courts set up in Sindh in three days

Courts to deal with utility theft, bill defaulters in the province

KARACHI: Sindh High Court (SHC) Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh has asked the federal law ministry to set up special courts in the province under the Gas (Theft Control and Recovery) Act, 2016, as the absence of the special courts is putting a burden of such litigation on the sessions courts.
Judicial sources told The Express Tribune that the top provincial judge had asked the ministry to set up such courts within three days.
The sources said the federal government had promulgated the law to establish separate special courts to prosecute those involved in gas theft or defaulting on payments of monthly bills in an attempt to steer the country out of the looming energy crises. However, it had failed to set up the courts in Sindh, putting the burden of such cases on the ordinary sessions courts.
Therefore, SHC Registrar Ghulam Mustafa Memon recently wrote a letter to the federal law ministry on March 28, drawing the ministry's attention towards the fact that pursuant to the promulgation of the Gas (Theft Control and Recovery) Act, 2016, the special gas utility courts prescribed under Section 3 of the act had not been established in the province.


Judicial sources said the federal ministry was told that presently complaints or criminals cases lodged under the above-mentioned act were being furnished to the ordinary courts of law, despite them lacking jurisdictions to adjudicate upon such cases. This particularly concerned the pre-arrest and post-arrest bail applications, which involve the person's liberty and require urgent consideration or adjudication by the court of law.
The registrar further told the ministry that in order to avoid a chaotic situation, Chief Justice Sheikh has authorised the district and sessions judges in the province, as a stop-gap arrangement, to deal with the cases registered under the newly promulgated statute within their territorial limits and assign jurisdiction to the judicial magistrates in their respective districts for carrying out day-to-day criminal proceedings and trials till the establishment of the special courts.
Therefore, the ministry was requested to take immediate steps on a top priority basis and establish a sufficient number of courts in Sindh after completing the process of consultation with the SHC as required under Section 3 of the Gas (Theft Control and Recovery) Act, 2016 within three days.