SHC warns private schools of contempt if orders not implemented

Private schools argue that SC had overturned SHC’s orders

KARACHI: A three-member bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) directed respondents to present the approved fee structure and other details they had submitted in the Supreme Court (SC) regarding the plea against fee hike by January 28. The private schools' counsel informed the three-member bench, comprising Justice Aqeel Abbasi, Justice Mazhar and Justice Ashraf Jahan that in all, three hearings had taken place at the SC, which had ordered a 20% decrease in tuition fees. This order was to be imposed on schools charging more than Rs5,000 in monthly tuition fee. The new order was to be implemented at Beacon House and City School from December, the counsel had maintained.

Justice Abbasi questioned if the SC had suspended or withdrawn any of the high court's orders? The lawyer representing parents observed that SC had clarified that its decision will supersede all the decisions. SC's order was still temporary and the case hadn't been closed yet. None of the SHC orders have, however, been suspended. On non-implementation of previous SHC orders, contempt of court action will be taken against school owners. Beacon House and City School lawyers said that they were implementing the orders and had issued new fee challans. Lawyer for parents informed the court that the SHC's September 3 order was being violated time and again. As counsel for private schools insisted that SC had suspended all the orders from all high courts, Justice Abbasi told him not to repeat that SC has barred the high court's orders. "Don't exaggerate the SC's order. We know what our order is and the order SC had issued." Lawyer for parents maintained that SC didn't suspend any of the SHC directives. Justice Abbasi inquired whether there was any order that overturned the SHC's three-member bench's decision, to which the private school's counsel said that the appeal against the decision had been accepted. Justice Mazhar remarked that it was the two-member bench's decision against which the appeal was accepted, not the three-member bench. The court said that private schools must follow the SHC order to not increase the fee by more than 5% and failure to comply will lead to contempt of court proceedings.

Shahzeb murder case

Another bench of SHC directed the government counsel on Monday to present arguments at the next hearing in the Shahzeb Khan murder case.



Farooq H Naek, counsel of the accused Shahrukh Jatoi, presented his arguments before a two-member bench, comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Nazar Akbar and said that Jatoi was under 18 years of age at the time of the incident. The court questioned that why the documents were being presented after four years and not submitted before the trial courts earlier. Justice Akbar said that the matter will be looked into and it will be determined that where the documents came from. Naek said that Jatoi looked older than his age. Presenting Jataoi's elder brother in court, Naek argued that he also looked older than his age. After Naek completed his arguments, the hearing was adjourned till January 21. Jatoi, including two other suspects, had been awarded death sentences while lifetime imprisonment was awarded to the two other suspects in the murder case of Shahzeb Khan. The SHC is hearing the appeals of the suspects on the Supreme Court (SC) orders.

Daniel Pearl case

The SHC sought the prison roll of accused involved in the murder of the American journalist Daniel Pearl by February 6. The orders were issued by a two-member bench which was hearing the pleas filed by accused including Fahad Naseem, Shaikh Muhammad Adil, and Syed Salman Saqib against the life-term awarded by an anti-terrorism court (ATC).

The primary accused, Sheikh, was sentenced to death on the charges of kidnapping and killing the US journalist, while his three accomplices were sentenced life imprisonment with a fine of Rs500,000 each by the ATC, Hyderabad on July 15, 2002.

The court had also directed the convicts to pay Rs2 million to the victim's widow, Marianne Pearl.

ECP

The SHC expressed annoyance at Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday for not submitting its reply on a plea against its notification regarding the facts and figures of census and country's population.

A two-member bench, headed by Justice Mazhar, heard the plea filed by a citizen against Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and ECP. The court sought reply from ECP on next hearing.

Mureed Ali Shah, counsel of the petitioner, informed the court that the data about Sindh was missing from ECP's notification. He said that there was a contradiction in the notifications issued by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics and ECP pertaining to the population of Pakistan.

''According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, country's population is 207,774,520 and according to ECP, the population is 207,766,954,'' he said. Due to the contradictions in figures of both the institutions, impartial polls were not possible on general seats, he argued.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2019.