SHC suspends Sindh Assembly speaker’s order against senior official

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday suspended the order of Sindh Assembly speaker against the Assembly’s senior special secretary and directed him, Assembly’s secretary and Sindh advocate general to submit a reply before the court.

On January 21, 2022, Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani placed the services of Senior Special Secretary Muhammad Khan Rind under suspension and issued a detailed charge sheet against him.

As per the charge sheet, Senior Special Secretary Muhammad Khan Rind wrote letters to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director general for launching an investigation into a case of tempering with the official record allegedly by an officer of the Assembly.

Besides, he also approached the auditor general of Pakistan for a forensic audit of the alleged misappropriation of the government funds of more than Rs581 million in various heads of Sindh Assembly, the Sindh inspector general of police for the recovery of stolen vehicles of the Assembly and submitted his reply to the Sindh High Court in a case of alleged illegal appointments in the Sindh Assembly.

In the same charge sheet, Muhammad Khan Rind was also blamed for defaming, damaging and tempering with the official record of the Assembly and approaching the higher authorities without obtaining approval from the authority.

It is pertinent to mention here that Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani issued this order at a time when he himself was under house arrest on corruption charges, including illegal appointments and accumulating assets beyond means, and his residence had been declared as a sub-jail by the Sindh home department.

Senior Special Secretary Muhammad Khan Rind challenged the order of Sindh Assembly speaker in the Sindh High Court and submitted his reply against the charge sheet.

The Sindh High Court suspended the order of the Sindh Assembly speaker and directed him not to take any coercive action against the officer. The court also directed the senior special secretary to continue his job and cooperate with the inquiry officer.

In response to the charge sheet, Muhammad Khan Rind said that in compliance with the Sindh High Court’s directions, he submitted his reply in a case of tempering with the official records by an officer of the Assembly.

He said he wrote a letter to the auditor general of Pakistan in the light of the report of director (research and publication) regarding the misappropriation of the government funds of more than Rs581 million in various heads of Sindh Assembly and approached the Sindh IGP for the recovery of stolen vehicles of the Sindh Assembly and the FIA DG regarding fraud in the official record as per law and orders of the court. Rind said he had submitted his all correspondence to the Sindh Assembly speaker for his permission and action on the issues.