The Sindh High Court directed on Thursday all officials nominated in a contempt of court plea, over the detention of persons acquitted in the Daniel Pearl murder case, to appear before the court in person.
A two-member bench, headed by Justice Iqbal Kalhoro, issued notices to the Sindh chief secretary, home department, jail authorities and other parties, after it observed that the chief secretary was not present at the hearing.
Upon the court's inquiry, a junior officer informed it that he was representing the chief secretary.
Irked by the response, the court stated, "All senior officials must attend the hearings in person."
It observed that junior officials could not represent senior officials at hearings of contempt of court pleas.
When Sindh Advocate-General Salman Talibuddin pointed out to the court that the murder case proceedings were underway at the Supreme Court (SC) on the day, the court stated that the contempt of court plea and the murder plea are separate cases.
It again inquired why persons acquitted in the case have not been released.
"So much so that we are now hearing a contempt of court plea [on the matter]," it remarked.
The Sindh advocate-general, however, contended that the contempt of court plea against the respondents, including the home department, is not maintainable.
"We are simply defending the detention orders of the accused here," he said, moving the court to declare the plea non-maintainable and dismiss it.
He further said the SC had directed the relevant authorities not to release the acquitted persons on December 28, 2020.
"But did the SC issue any order after that?" asked the bench, following which Justice Kalhoro sought a copy of apex court's ruling issued the previous day.
The advocate-general replied that the SC had not issued any ruling pertaining to the release of the acquitted men.
Then, it is quite possible that the top court had not thought it necessary to issue a ruling, given that the case's verdict is due, the court stated, noting that the SC had not issued orders for keeping persons in detention any longer.
"It would be better if we wait for the SC's ruling," said the advocate-general.
Seeking the SC's rulings issued in the case and directing all authorities nominated in the plea to appear in person at the next hearing, the court adjourned the hearing till January 13.
Illegal land allotment case
The same bench sought a progress report on the investigation launched by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) into the illegal allotment of a piece of agricultural land in Sujawal.
It was hearing a plea filed by former Sindh Textbook Board chairperson Agha Sohail Pathan, who is accused in the case and has challenged the NAB investigation in the court.
At the hearing, the NAB prosecutor informed the court that the investigation is underway and a report would be submitted after its completion.
Directing the national graft watchdog to submit the report by January 18, the court extended Pathan's interim bail.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 8th, 2021.
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