SHC reserves verdict on Fazaia Housing scam refund

Sindh High Court says anyone dissatisfied with verdict can reach out to the Supreme Court

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court reserved on Wednesday its verdict on a plea pertaining to the refund of money to citizens defrauded in the name of the Fazaia Housing Scheme.

A two-member bench, comprising Justice KK Agha and Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi, was hearing the plea, where the counsel representing the Pakistan Air Force maintained that a two-member bench had given orders to refund the affected citizens but a single bench bypassed these directives and ordered them to refund the money through an official assignee.

He claimed that the accused wanted to refund the money through the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The investigation officer informed the court that an advertisement asking people to file claims for refunds had been published in three major newspapers and 1,985 citizens had filed for refunds so far. He added that the verification process for the claims was under way.

Meanwhile, the accused's counsel maintained that the court had bound them to return the funds to those defrauded within two months, but the single bench had frozen their accounts.

The additional attorney general and NAB prosecutor Sattar Awan upheld the statement given by the accused's counsels.

Advocate Najeeb Jamali maintained that around Rs1 billion were invested in the project by overseas Pakistanis, adding that they should therefore be given the principal amount along with the profit earned on their money. However, a group of affected citizens opposed this argument.

The court reserved its verdict on the plea after the completion of the arguments, remarking that any parties dissatisfied with the verdict could reach out to the Supreme Court.

Inter-province transport

A two-member bench, comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed, issued notices to the Sindh government, Sindh Transport and Mass Transit Department and other relevant authorities, seeking their replies on a plea pertaining to the restoration of inter-provincial public transport.

At the hearing, the petitioner's counsel informed the court that transporters had been granted permission to run buses from terminals at the National Highway, Yousuf Goth bus terminal and RCDA bus terminal, adding that Karachi was facing traffic congestion due to illegal bus terminals.

He further stated that transporters had suffered huge losses due to the closure of private bus terminals, and moved the court to order the opening of private terminals.

The counsel further prayed the court to allow transporters possessing permits to run buses from selected terminals in line with standard operating procedures.

At this, the court issued notices to respondents, seeking their replies by August 13. Besides, it ordered the petitioner's counsel to combine pleas similar to the one seeking the restoration of inter-provincial transport.

Pleas disposed

Meanwhile, a bench comprising Justice Nazar Akbar and Justice Abdul Mubeen Lakho disposed of pleas seeking the recovery of two missing persons.

The move came in the wake of the counsel informing the court that both the missing persons, Muhammad Usama and Nadeem Khan, had returned home.

According to the pleas, Usama went missing from Gulshan-e-Iqbal in March, 2019, while Khan had gone missing from Paposh Nagar.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2020.