Court seeks progress report on LDA corruption case

SHC dismisses petition seeking creation of seven states in Sindh

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed on Thursday the accountability court concerned to submit on the next hearing a progress report on the case pertaining to corruption worth millions of rupees in the Lyari Development Authority (LDA).

A two-member bench heard the corruption case. A counsel for former LDA director-general (DG) Agha Maqsood Abbas argued that the National Accountability Bureau's reference against his client was mala fide and should be withdrawn.

In May, the SHC had ordered the accountability court to complete the trial in six months.

The federal anti-graft watchdog had charged Abbas with investing Rs1 billion of the department without the permission of authorities. The suspect was also accused of understating the profit earned from the investment and causing loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer.

After hearing the arguments, the SHC extended bails of Abbas and others till August 16 and directed the accountability court to submit a progress report on the next hearing.



Plea for Sindh division dismissed

The SHC also dismissed a petition seeking division of Sindh into seven independent states, terming it non-maintainable.

A two-member bench, headed by SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Shaikh heard the matter. The SHC chief justice remarked that states were formed due to evolutionary processes over centuries. He observed that only the assemblies had the authority to form new provinces and states and a court could not pass such orders.

It was argued in the petition that there was no city in Europe which had a population over five million, while Karachi's population had exceeded 20 million. The petitioner asked the SHC to order creation of seven states in Sindh as the province had become unmanageable.

A lawyer representing the government argued that the procedure to create more provinces had been clearly provided in the Constitution. Even if Parliament approves creation of a new province with a two-third majority, the new province still cannot be created unless the provinces concerned give their consent, the lawyer said.



The bench asked the petitioner to state any article of the Constitution under which it could pass the requested order. Punjabi is the second most-spoken language in Canada and its six ministers are Sikh, the bench remarked, questioning whether it was possible to demand a new state in Canada for Punjabi speaking people.