Islamabad High Court. PHOTO COURTESY: IHC WEBSITE
The case was presided over by the Justice Amir Farooq.
The applicant, Khalid Iqbal, stated in his application that the current AIOU VC Dr Ziaul-Qayyum was appointed against the rules.
The counsel of the university Raja Sahimul Haq Satti stated that the federal government formed a search committee comprising highly educated people which issued advertisements in the newspapers after which Dr Ziaul-Qayyum was appointed.
The internationally recognised candidate took charge of his office in November, 2018 and is performing his duties with full commitment, he added.
He requested the court to dismiss the petition to nullify the appointment of the vice-chancellor.
Terrorism charges
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has reserved the decision to handover Pakistani citizen Talha Haroon to the United States (US) due to allegations stating that he has links with the terrorist group ISIS.
Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani heard the application against the decision of Islamabad Additional Deputy Commissioner General (ADCG).
The applicant’s counsel stated that the United States always refused to hand over any Pakistani citizens back to us. He went on to give the example of Hussain Haqqani.
At this, Justice Mohsin responded that an admiral that was wanted by Pakistan was handed over to it.
On inquiring about his family, the applicant’s counsel said that the suspect’s siblings were living in the US.
The suspect was accused of planning an attack in New York with ISIS. The Islamabad ADCG was appointed as the inquiry officer on the US’s request to handover the suspect to them. The ADCG gave the decision on January 15, 2017.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was supposed to hand him over under the supervision of the Foreign Ministry. However, the process was stopped after a stay order from the high court.
Consumer court
The Consumer Court Judge Abdul Hafeez has taken strict notice of the overpriced listings in private housing societies’ advertisements. Saqib Rehman in his petition stated that he acquired a plot in a private housing society on which a structure was supposed to be built by the company.
He paid around Rs3.2 million in installments to the developer. However, he was not given possession of the plot. He demanded to be compensated with interest, and demanded a total of Rs6.5 million.
The court ordered the housing company to construct a bungalow within six months along with paying the remaining amount to the applicant after giving him possession of the plot.
Moreover, the court ordered that the housing societies be registered according to the Companies Act. It also ordered that all transactions made by societies be made through banking channels.
The court also directed the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA), Municipal Corporation (MC) and chairmen of district councils to improve laws regarding installments of houses and plots to ensure 100% protection of public money.
The judge also directed to send these issues to the district consumer councils.
Furthermore, the court ordered that a minimum security deposit of Rs100 million or equivalent in surety bonds or bank guarantees be paid to related departments before starting the project.
Smuggling case
The Additional District and Session Judge Sardar Hamid has rejected Shiekh Rasheed’s plea to dismiss Hanif Abbasi’s case.
The court has notified Hanif Abbasi to present witnesses on April 23.
Shiekh Rasheed’s counsel said that Hanif Abbasi was indicted with a life sentence and jailed in the Ephedrine smuggling case. He added that due to the fact that Ephedrine was a drug the case should be dismissed.
In this regard, the court said that the case could not be dismissed without recording the witnesses’ statements.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 9th, 2019.
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