Apex court displeased with delay in drug case

Demands a report from SHC Registrar on the non-appointment of judge in the narcotics court

KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) expressing its displeasure over the five-year delay in drugs' case of accused, demanded a report from the Registrar of Sindh High Court on the non-appointment of judge in the narcotics court.

A two-member bench, comprising Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Muneeb Akhtar, was hearing the plea in the SC Karachi registry. The plaintiff's lawyer Shaukat Hayat observed that accused, Fazal Maula, had been charged for carrying 256kg hashish in a truck and was in jail since 2014 but no witnesses have been produced yet. The court expressed annoyance over the delay and summoned a reply from the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) director-general within two weeks. The prosecutor from the ANF observed that due to the transfer of officers the witnesses could not be produced. Justice Ahmed remarked that you won't be pardoned through such statements.

The NAB prosecutor accepted the responsibility for the delay. The court asked the ANF director to submit the report first then the court will look into the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2019.