The Sindh High Court (SHC) sought on Wednesday the arguments from the petitioner's counsel at the next hearing of a plea challenging the provision of licences to liquor stores.
A two-member bench, comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed, was hearing the plea.
Justice Mazhar inquired about the method and conditions for issuing licences to liquor stores.
Sindh Additional Advocate General Shaharyar Mahar maintained that licences were renewed every year and the renewal requests were rejected in case of any objection.
Mahar told the court that liquor stores were not allowed to function near schools, madrassas and in Muslim residential areas, claiming that a report by the statistics department suggested that there were 7,000 non-Muslim residential areas in Defence Housing Authority.
Sindh additional advocate general and the counsel for liquor store owners, Zameer Ghumro, completed the arguments.
The court directed the petitioner's counsel to present his arguments at the next hearing and submit the copies of verdicts and cases about liquor stores which were under trial in the SHC and the Supreme Court.
The court adjourned the hearing till September 8.
Local government elections
The same bench expressed annoyance over the election commission not submitting a written reply and sought complete details from it at the next hearing of the plea seeking local government elections soon.
Justice Mazhar remarked that it was unfortunate that the election commission had not submitted a reply.
Election commission law officer Abdullah Hunjra maintained that the written reply had been prepared and it had been sent to the headquarters for approval.
"What kind of scientific formula does the reply carry that it has to be approved before submitting in the court," remarked Justice Mazhar, adding that how would the officials in the commission be able to conduct the elections when they could not even submit a single reply to the court.
The court directed the officials to submit the written reply immediately and mention how and when the local government elections would be conducted.
Hunjra replied that the service period of the local government representatives was ending on August 30 and the elections for the new term would be conducted within 120 days.
Justice Mazhar remarked that the court would record the verbal reply and conclude the case, on which Hunjra requested the court to grant an extension for the submission of the written reply.
The court accepted by the court and sought the complete details on Septemeber 8.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 27th, 2020.
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