Schools cannot collect June-July fee together: SHC

SHC orders schools to issue challan for one month

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) barred private schools on Monday from collecting the fee for the months of June and July together while hearing the case regarding the excessive fees being collected by schools.

A three-member bench comprising Justice Aqeel Abbasi, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Muhammad Faisal Kamal heard the case in which the counsel for parents observed that today (Monday) was the last day of payment of dues and asked that more time be granted.

The court granted the parents further three days for submission of fee. The court remarked that if the parents did not submit the fee, the court would also direct action against them.

The court remarked that their directives were clear and private schools must implement them. Schools that have issued two-month challan should take them back and issue one-month challan. The court adjourned the hearing till May 20.

JIT reports

A two-member bench headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro expressed displeasure over the absence of Sindh Advocate-General (AG) in the case pertaining to making public the joint investigation team's report on Lyari-based gangster Uzair Baloch, former Fishermen Cooperative Housing Society chairperson Nisar Morai and Baldia factory fire.

SHC bars schools from collecting more than a month’s fee

 

The bench remarked that the court had directed the Sindh AG to present his arguments in the case but despite clear orders, he had failed to appear before the court.

Umer Soomro, the counsel for the petitioner, argued that if the AG would not be coming to the court then the JIT reports should be made public. The court summoned the Sindh AG and adjourned the hearing till May 20.

Ali Zaidi, a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmaker had filed a petition in the high court seeking directives for the law enforcement agencies to make public JIT reports of Baloch, Morai and the Baldia factory fire case.

Zaidi, in his petition, contended that more than 250 people lost their lives in the Baldia incident but the JIT report had not been made public yet. The JIT reports of Baloch and Morai have also not been made public, he added.

He claimed that Morai had spilled the beans about the involvement of senior politicians in the murder of seven people during his interrogation by the JIT.

Judgement reserved

The SHC reserved its judgement on Muttahida Qaumi Movement's (MQM) target killer, Saeed Bharam, while hearing his plea challenging the sentence awarded to him by the trial court for murdering an MQM-Haqeeqi worker.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Aftab Ahmed and Justice Amjad Ali heard the counsels of both parties. Bharam's confessional statement had been submitted in the court in which the accused admitted to murdering lawyers and attacking the Sindh secretariat and police head office. He said that MQM's Nadeem Nusrat, Farooq Sattar, Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar, Haider Abbas Rizvi, Muhammad Anwar and several others had issued directives to conduct terrorist activities.

Undeterred, private schools charge summer vacation fees

 

 

Muhammad Anwar, through a phone call in 2005 or 2006, conveyed Altaf Hussain's order to formulate a team to kill his opponents. He took various steps to spread chaos, siege and arson and target killings in the city with Saulat Mirza, Ajmal Pahari and several other target killers.

According to the Rangers' prosecutor, an anti-terrorism court awarded life imprisonment to Bharam. Since there was concrete evidence against the accused, the punishment is to be maintained.

A murder case was registered on October 1, 2009, in Nabi Bux Police Station. Bharam had murdered MQM-Haqeeqi worker Syed Abrar Hussain.

Petition dismissed

Hearing another case, the SHC dismissed the petition of accused, Iqbal Turrbi and Najma Turrabi, pertaining to the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) authority to confiscate properties of convicted felons in corruption cases.

A two-member bench based on Justice Iqbal Ahmed Kalhoro and Justice Shamsuddin Abbasi announced the decision and directed NAB to confiscate the properties of the accused according to law. The court has also ordered NAB to consult the related forums before confiscating properties, however. The petition maintained that the accountability court had awarded sentence to Pakistan State Oil's accounts officer Iqbal and Najma Turrabi. Over the completion of the sentence, NAB has issued a notice to confiscate his property in Defence Housing Authority.  The petition stated that NAB does not have the authority to confiscate the property and it should be stopped from taking the action.

With additional reporting from PPI

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2019.