Representational image. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI: Annulling the verdict of a lower court convicting a man accused of killing a policeman, the Sindh High Court ordered on Wednesday fresh hearings of the case.
A two-member bench gave the verdict on an appeal against the sentence given earlier by a lower court to Muhammad Nawaz.
According to the police, Nawaz killed a policeman, Muhammad Ishaq, in 2014. An anti-terrorism court awarded capital punishment to Nawaz in 2015. The court sentenced Nawaz to death in the cop murder case while he was given a 21-year jail sentence in two other cases. All cases against the accused are registered at the Sharafi Goth police station.
Load-shedding case
The SHC postponed the hearing on a contempt of court petition filed against the K-Electric (KE) and National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) over unannounced load shedding as the defendant requested for more time to submit a reply.
The case was heard by a two-member bench. KE's lawyer appeared before the court and asked for a time extension to submit a reply to the contempt notices issued earlier to the power utility by the court.
Accepting the request, the bench adjourned the hearing till November 13.
The petitioner, Karamat Ali, accused Nepra and KE authorities of not complying with court orders from May 22, 2018. The petition further referred to deaths in the 2015 heat wave which were mostly caused due to long spells of load-shedding. The court had earlier asked Nepra to take action against K-E.
Unannounced load-shedding continues till now, which amounts equal to contempt of court, the petitioner argued.
Promotions in water
management case
Directing to conduct the board meeting regarding promotion of water management employees, the SHC directed the concerned authorities to submit replies by December 11.
A two-member bench heard the plea pertaining to the promotion of water management employees on Wednesday.
The court barred the water management department from holding a meeting on November 2 regarding the promotions of employees. The court directed that a reply be submitted before the meeting.
As many as 302 officers of the department had filed pleas for promotion. The petition alleged that favourites were being promoted. A decision to promote only 102 officers has been made, the petition read, adding that all 405 officers have equal seniority, but only 102 were being promoted. The approval for promotion to 405 officers was present, the petitioners argued.
The court directed the concerned authorities to submit a reply in this regard by December 11 and adjourned the hearing.
Missing persons case
The SHC sought a progress report within a month from the Sindh police and law enforcement agencies relating to the recovery of more than 70 missing persons.
A two-member bench, headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulputo, heard the case and expressed annoyance with the lack of progress in police reports.
The bench ordered the inspector-general of police and Karachi additional inspector-general to pay special attention towards the recovery of missing persons.
The bench asked the IG to oversee the case himself and directed the police to apply modern devices for recovery of missing persons.
The families of missing persons told the court that despite the court orders, police were not cooperating with them.
The investigation officer told the court that one missing person, Zaman, disappeared after he was released from jail.
With additional input from PPI
Published in The Express Tribune, November 1st, 2018.
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