Students being harassed for not paying additional fee, parents tell SHC

They argue that fees will be paid once the revised structure is approved

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday issued a notice to private schools for harassing students on the non-payment of additional fees and summoned the private schools' director-general on December 19.

A two-member bench heard the petition against private schools filed by the parents. Thelawyer of Zeeshan and nine other petitioners said that the school administration was collecting more than 5% additional fees despite the court's orders. Students were being harassed for not paying the additional fees. The private school's lawyer argued that petitioners have not paid fees at all since September. To this, the petitioners' lawyer said that they would only pay the fees when an approved fee structure is provided. The court asked the private schools' administration to submit a response and directed them to show the last approved fee structure to the petitioners. The court also summoned the private schools director-general for personal appearance in the next hearing.

JIT reports

The SHC on Tuesday ordered the petitioner's lawyer to continue further arguments in the next hearing on December 13 regarding the Federal Minister of Port and Shipping Ali Zaidi's plea to make public the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) reports in the cases of Baldia factory fire incident, Uzair Baloch and Nisar Morai.

A two-member bench heard the case in which Zaidi's lawyer, Umar Soomro, appeared in court. The court asked Soomro whether the petition was maintainable. The public prosecutor said that since the Sindh advocate-general was busy in the Supreme Court, the hearing should be adjourned. The court, however, rejected the request for adjournment and ordered the petitioner's lawyer to continue with the arguments.

Soomro argued that it was also a case of state safety like the memogate scandal as authority had been abused and public trust had been betrayed. Hence, all the investigation reports should be made public. The lawyer also claimed that Uzair Baloch, Nisar Morai and other politicians have ruined three generations of Sindh. The court, ordering Soomro to continue with the arguments, adjourned the hearing.

Zaidi, in his petition, had stated that over 250 people lost their lives in the Baldia incident but the JIT report had yet to be made public. The JIT reports of Uzair Baloch and Morai have also not been made available, the petition added, saying that Morai had revealed names of senior politicians who were involved in the murders of seven people. As citizens, the petition stated, it was their right to know about the suspects probed during the JIT investigation.

Police fund corruption

The SHC, on bail pleas of former inspector-general (IG) Ghulam Hyder Jamali and others in the second reference of corruption worth millions of rupees in Sindh Police fund, directed petitioner's lawyer to inform the relevant trial court about the plea bargain requests sent to National Accountability Bureau (NAB). A two-member bench heard the bail pleas in the corruption reference in which the petitioner's lawyer Mehmood Alam Rizvi argued that three requests of plea bargains have been sent to NAB director-general. An order on it was still awaited. The court directed the lawyer to inform the trial court about these requests. Contractors Mohammad Radiq, Mohammad Shafiq and Tanveer were among the accused seeking plea bargain.

The court asked the lawyer of the accused to present his arguments in the next hearing. The court also extended the interim bails of accused, former IG Ghulam Hyder Jamali, former additional IG Tanveer Ahmed Tahir, and works and services sub-engineer Rizwan Hussain.

According to NAB, the accused have caused a loss of more than 15 million to the national exchequer in the name of maintenance of police cars. Accused gave contracts without tenders to whoever they wanted.

Pakistanis stranded abroad

The SHC on Tuesday, expressing anger with the deputy attorney-general for not submitting a reply regarding the return of Pakistanis stranded abroad for years, summoned the Immigration Law director for personal appearance on the next hearing. The petitioner's lawyer, Advocate Nadeem Sheikh, before a two-member bench, said that Mohammad Ilyas's family along with ten other Pakistani are stranded in Saudi Arabia since 2015. Mohammad Ilyas was one of the famous traders in Karachi who went to Saudi Arabia for business where their passports got expired. The Pakistani Embassy in Saudi Arabia asked for a bribe to renew passports. According to the petition, the embassy kept on showing Mohammad Ilyas and his family as Burmese or foreigners. The court, expressing anger, summoned the Immigration Law director.

Contempt plea

The SHC issued notice to the parties on the contempt of court plea against the Provincial Minister of Agriculture, Agriculture secretary, Cane Commissioner and others and summoned them on December 11.

A two-member bench, hearing the case, summoned Provincial Minister Ismail Rahu, Agriculture Secretary Agha Zaheer ud Din, and Cane Commissioner for personal appearance.

The petitioner, Advocate Mureed Ali Shah, argued that the court had ordered to run sugar mills all over Sindh till November 30 and determine the price of sugarcane but the parties have not complied with the court's order. The order was passed on October 30 by the SHC's two-member bench.

Land grabbing case

The SHC on Tuesday, issued a contempt of court notice to Karachi Development Authority Director-General Sami Siddiqui and others on a petition pertaining to the land grabbing case of 404 plots in Gulistan-e-Johar.

A two-member bench, hearing the case, issued the contempt of court notice and sought a reply from the parties by January 14. The petitioner, making serious allegations against Siddiqui, said that he gave him death threats for filing the case. He further alleged Siddiqui to have said that he won't leave him. According to the petition, the Board of Revenue and Sindh Building Control Authority were working in collaboration with the land grabbing mafia and investigations should be handed over to NAB.

Lea market case

Around 172 shopkeepers of Lea Market filed a petition against Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) in the SHC. It was filed by Advocate Khawaja Naveed.

Naveed stated that KMC should be stopped from demolishing shops in Lea Market as the shopkeepers were given permission to build those shops by KMC at their own expense. The mayor, in 2010, had permitted the shopkeepers to convert vegetable stalls into general shops. Shops were built after the approval of the building plan. The petitioners requested the court to stop KMC from demolishing those shops. The court will hear the case today. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2018.