Federal secretary issued show-cause notice
A division bench comprising Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi was hearing a case about cases pending in the drugs court because of to non-completion of its quorum.
The applicant, Muhammad Afaq Khan, who faces charges of selling unregistered drugs, moved a miscellaneous application, seeking for the proceedings initiated by the Sindh Drugs Court to be quashed. His counsel submitted that an inspector of the drugs department in Shaheed Benazirabad district, lodged an FIR, alleging that unregistered Indian and Chinese drugs were seized from the applicant’s shop in 2007.
He accused Inspector Muzaffar Ali Jaffery of implicating the applicant in a false case. Subsequently, the Sindh Drugs Court in Karachi initiated proceedings against him. He stated that the acquittal application was filed in the trial court, which rejected the plea.
On April 20, 2010, the chairman of the Sindh Drugs Court informed the SHC that one member of the drugs court, Dr Kalil Ahmed Sheikh, had died and since then, no new member was appointed.
The SHC division bench observed that on August 10, 2010, it directed the federal secretary for law and justice to appoint a member in the drugs court so that it could dispose of such cases.
This order was faxed to the federal secretary but the member was still not appointed, while there has also been no explanation forwarded to the court on this matter.
“We had also observed in the said order that in case of non-compliance, the federal secretary for law and justice should be in attendance. Even, this portion of the order has been overlooked,” the bench said.
The SHC ordered the federal secretary to attend the court with his written explanation, said further orders will be passed on the next date. The hearing was adjourned until October 4.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 15th, 2010.
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