SHC raises questions about maintainability of PSM plea

Bench notes industries are closing up, downsizing across the globe

The Sindh High Court (SHC) rejected on Monday the request to conduct an immediate hearing of a plea challenging the termination of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) employees and directed the petitioner's counsel to give arguments on the maintainability of the plea on the next hearing.

A two-member bench, comprising Justice Nadeem Akhtar and Justice Adnanul Karim Memon, heard the plea.

The petitioner's counsel maintained that the termination of 4,544 PSM workers was illegal, adding that they had approached the court as a labour union, seeking protection for the workers' rights. Stating that Prime Minister Imran Khan had promised to provide 10 million jobs but was instead sacking thousands of workers, he claimed they could not be dismissed over a standing order.

"Industries are closing down and downsizing across the globe," observed Justice Akhtar. "What were the PSM workers doing when the steel mills weren't operating?"

The court rejected the request to conduct an immediate hearing of the plea and directed the petitioner's counsel to give arguments on it at the next hearing.

'Out of syllabus'

Meanwhile, the SHC issued notices to the Pakistan Medical Council (PMC) and others over a plea against out-of-syllabus questions appearing in the admission test for medical colleges and universities.

The petitioner's counsel maintained that the questions asked in the MDCAT entry test, held on November 29, differed from the announced syllabus.

He moved the court to restrict the PMC from issuing the test results and direct it to conduct another test on December 13. He also requested it to form a committee comprising representatives from all four provinces to investigate the matter.

The court issued notices to the PMC and other parties, seeking their replies by December 16.

Fake encounter

Another bench, comprising Justice Nazar Akbar and Justice Zulfiqar Ahmad Khan, declared a police encounter fake while accepting a convict's appeal against the sentence awarded to him in a case pertaining to robbery and police encounter.

Announcing the verdict, the court stated that the accused police officials, Imran, Arif Sajjad, Waqar and Fahad Ali, had brutally killed two citizens, Ghulam Shabbir and Ghulam Rasool, in a staged encounter.

The court further said that the police party claimed the suspects had fired at them with heavy ammunition but only three bullet shells were found from the crime scene, which did not match the weapons allegedly confiscated from the convicts.

According to the medico-legal officer, the deceased were shot with heavy guns from a distance of two feet, the court added, while no evidence of their involvement in robberies was found.

The court nullified the sentence awarded to convict Javed alias Essa and directed the police to register a case against the police team involved in the fake encounter.

It also directed the West SSP to carry out disciplinary action against the accused police party.

According to the police, the case against Javed had been registered at the Surjani Town police station in 2019, with the cops claiming to have shot dead two suspects in an encounter.

B-form for orphans

Another bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, issued notices to the parties over a plea arguing that the National Database and Registration Authority's (NADRA) rules were hindering the academic process of orphans.

The petitioner's lawyer maintained that his client, an orphan, wanted to continue her studies but NADRA did not issue her a B-form due to her parents' absence. Subsequently, he said, her admit card was withheld by the Board of Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK). The last date for the admit cards' provision is December 15, he added.

He moved the court to order NADRA to immediately issue the B-form to Maham Rahman and BSEK to issue her admit card.

"It is a matter of a student's examination, therefore, NADRA should review the matter immediately and take steps to save her academic year," remarked Justice Mazhar.

The court directed the petitioner's counsel to provide a copy of the plea to NADRA and issued notices to NADRA, BSEK, Sindh government and other parties.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2020.