SHC issues contempt of court notices to CM and IG

Over failure to implement court orders for legislation on appointments, transfers and postings in the Sindh police

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued contempt of court notices to Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Sindh Inspector-General (IG) Syed Kaleem Imam over the government's failure to implement court orders for legislation on appointments, transfers and postings of officers in the Sindh police department.



Barrister Faisal Siddiqui, appearing for the petitioners, maintained that the Sindh government was not interested in making laws pertaining to appointments, transfers and postings of police officers. Siddiqui said that despite the court having passed clear directives on September 7, 2017, to the government to make laws, the government had failed to implement them. Siddiqui said that action should be taken against the CM and IG for violating court orders. Issuing contempt of court notices to the parties, the bench headed by Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi sought replies on November 7.

Unannounced load-shedding

The same bench, while hearing a contempt plea against National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) and K-Electric (KE), issued contempt of court notices to KE officials including Chief Operating Officer Asif Saad, former chief executive officer Tayyab Tareen and Amir Zia, the head of distribution.

On a petition filed by Karamat Ali, the court directed K-Electric authorities to submit replies by October 31. The petitioner argued that K-electric and NEPRA authorities were not implementing the court orders issued on May 22, 2018, against unannounced load-shedding.



Due to the load-shedding, a large number of citizens died during the heat-wave in 2015. The court had earlier directed NEPRA to take action against K-Electric, but unannounced load-shedding continues till now, said the petitioner.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2018.