Court rejects report on CSR work carried out by the oil and gas companies to create employment. REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) commuted on Monday the death sentence of a criminal, convicted of committing a murder during a robbery bid. A divisional bench, comprising Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto and Justice KK Agha, announced the verdict, commuting the sentence to life imprisonment.
According to the police, Ishtiaq, along with his accomplices, robbed Idrees’s home in 2007 in Alfalah area and opened fire, killing him in the process. Ishtiaq was proven guilty and awarded the death sentence by a sessions court. He was awarded an additional seven-year imprisonment for possession of illegal weapons.
Report rejected
The SHC rejected the report regarding the CSR work carried out by the oil and gas companies at the local level to create employment and directed the petroleum concession (PC) director-general (DG) to provide a detailed report with a statement under oath.
Justice Agha and Justice Omar Sial heard the case in which 21 deputy commissioners and representatives of the oil and gas companies appeared before the court.
The report submitted by the Sindh chief secretary was presented before the court in which the a deceased MNA, Ayaz Soomro, who had died in March 2018, was shown as the chairperson of the Larkana committee. Justice Sial remarked that no one had read the report and simply stamped and forwarded it.
The court reprimanded the federal government and inquired from the deputy attorney-general why a reply had not been submitted even after three months. He replied that the relevant officers were contacted via phone, but they did not receive any reply. Justice Agha remarked that the court was being given stereotypical replies for the last three months.
The PC DG submitted the report which was rejected by the court following which, the court ordered him to submit a detailed report. The court directed the representative of the PC DG to find out the consequences of presenting an incorrect statement under oath from his lawyer.
The petitioner’s lawyer, Roshan Lakhan, argued that the report of the PC DG was misleading. Justice Agha remarked that the chief secretary’s report had not been read by anyone. He asked for a reply from the chief secretary on this report. The federal government’s lawyer argued that it was the responsibility of the government to utilise the money received from the petroleum companies. He added that for this, district level committees are formed headed by the MNA.
The additional advocate-general argued that petroleum companies were working in 21 districts in Sindh. The court inquired as to how many of the district committees had chairpersons, to which it was informed that the appointment of chairpersons for district committees had not been made. He added that a summary had been sent for the appointment of the committee’s chairperson. The court remarked that forget about summary as it was clear that none of the district committees had chairpersons.
The additional advocate-general said that chairpersons of the committees in all districts would be appointed within 10 days. The court adjourned the hearing indefinitely.
Notices issued
The SHC issued notices to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) DG, investigation officer (IO) and several others over the bail plea of Hussain Lawai, a close aide of the former president Asif Ali Zardari, in the mega money laundering scandal. A two-member bench comprising Justice Aftab Gor and Justice Amjad Ali Setho heard the plea.
The court asked Lawai’s counsel if the case had been transferred to Islamabad. Advocate Haider Waheed replied that while the Supreme Court (SC) had transferred the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) investigation to Islamabad, the FIA’s case was still underway in Karachi. He argued that his client had been in prison for the past five months and requested that his bail be granted.
The bail of another suspect in the case, Taha Raza, had been granted at the previous hearing. Raza, who was appointed on an important post in a private bank, is accused of involvement in the fake accounts case against Omni Group and the Pakistan Peoples Party leadership.
The bench ordered the respondents to satisfy the court by the next hearing on January 30.
Zardari and Faryal Talpur are on interim bail in the banking court case.
Petition addressed
The SHC addressed the petition seeking Dr Asim Hussain’s removal from Rangers’ custody after hearing arguments from both sides. A divisional bench headed by SHC Chief Justice (CJ) Ahmed Ali Shaikh heard the petition and ordered the authorities to resolve the matter in accordance with law.
According to the petition, Dr Asim was kept in the Rangers’ custody for a period of three months. The CJ remarked that the case was being heard at the trial court so it was not possible to declare the arrest illegal. The counsel for the Rangers maintained that Dr Asim was taken into custody for providing medical facilities to terrorists adding that his petition was ineffective now.
The petition was filed by Dr Asim’s mother Dr Ejaz Fatima. Rangers arrested Dr Hussain in 2016.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 29th, 2019.
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