Daily Times

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) gave more time to the Sindh chief secretary and other official respondents to file their comments on a petition seeking devolution of Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) from the Sindh government to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC).

A division bench, headed by Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi, adjourned the hearing until June 19 on the request of Advocate General Sindh, Barrister Zameer Ghumro.

City Mayor Waseem Akhtar had petitioned the high court, submitting that the board was created under Sindh Solid Waste Management Board Act, 2014 with functions to the needs of general public.

He quoted the Supreme Court’s order in which it had ordered the devolution of the board to local bodies under the rules of business in view of its below par performance. The petitioner maintained that despite the directives of the apex court steps were not being taken to transfer the SSWMB to the elected local representatives. He pleaded to the judges to direct the authorities concerned to transfer all the assets falling under the umbrella of the Solid Waste Management Board Act, 2014 to the local government institutions.

The court was further requested to direct the respondents to give complete details of all the funds, which they had received for the purpose of solid waste management, how the same were spent, and to appoint a reputable auditor to find the facts.

Meanwhile, another bench directed the Pakistan People’s Party’s lawmaker Sharmila Farooqi to submit in court details of the plea bargain that she had entered with the NAB back in 2001.

The court was hearing the petition filed by Farooqi, who approached the court against the National Accountability Bureau for asking the Election Commission of Pakistan and the Sindh Assembly to disqualify her for having been convicted by a court.

Sharmila Farooqi through her lawyer had submitted that NAB had filed a reference against her father, who was former Steel Mills chairman, mother and her for investing a huge amount in national saving schemes which did not commensurate with their known sources of income. However, they later entered into a plea bargain with the NAB, which was allowed by the relevant court in 2001.

She said that in 2016, the NAB had written to the ECP, the State Bank of Pakistan and others calling for her disqualification under the Section 15 of the Ordinance.

In response to the court notice, the NAB prosecutor had filed comments, submitting that Farooqui cannot hold any public office since she has been convicted by a court of law. “Letters to the Sindh Assembly and the ECP seeking her disqualification were written strictly in accordance with the law.

Subsequently, her counsel filed a rejoinder contending that under Section 9 and 17 of the Ehtesab Act, there is no disqualification for a person holding public office after he or she has entered into plea bargain.

“Under no circumstances, Section 15 of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999, which provides that a person stands disqualified for holding public office for 21 years after having been convicted by a court cannot be applied in her client’s case,” he argued.