SHC seeks report on Rangers’ powers in province

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday directed the Sindh government to submit a detailed report with regard to powers of the Rangers in the province.

Hearing a petition filed by a citizen against the seizure of his vehicle by the paramilitary force, a division bench of the high court headed by SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh asked a provincial law officer under what law the Rangers had the authority to impound vehicles.

The petitioner, Shahzad, submitted that his vehicle was taken away by his employees Ramzan and Idrees on August 29, 2022, which was reported to the police, but, later, it was found that the vehicle was in the possession of the Rangers 35 Wing in New Karachi.

He submitted that he had approached the relevant wing of the paramilitary force for the return of his vehicle but the matter was still pending and he was facing problems due to the non-availability of his private vehicle.

The provincial law officer submitted that the Rangers had special powers under the anti-terrorism law. He sought time to file comments on the next hearing.

The SHC directed the provincial law officer to submit a detailed report with regard to the powers of the Rangers.

The Sindh High Court directed a provincial law officer to file comments on a petition against ‘out-of-turn’ promotions and ‘illegal’ appointments in the Sindh Assembly secretariat. The high court asked how more than five members of the same family had been appointed in the provincial assembly.

The petitioner had submitted in the plea that former Sindh Assembly secretary Hadi Bux Buriro had appointed his five sons, 10 to 20 nephews, and other relatives against various posts in the Sindh Assembly, which was a worst case of nepotism.

He submitted that the former secretary’s son GM Umar Farooq Buriro was presently working as the Sindh Assembly secretary in grade 21, his brother Rashid Hussain Buriro as the director general in grade 20, Arshad Hussain Buriro working as the deputy secretary in grade 18, Abdul Majid Buriro as controller in grade 18 and Muzamil Rehman Buriro as estate officer in grade 18 at the provincial assembly.

He said that it was a unique case of the father handing over charge to his own son as the Sindh Assembly secretary who had the length of service of only six years. The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the appointment of the provincial assembly’s secretary was illegal as it was done without completing codal formalities.

The counsel submitted that the present secretary was appointed as an assistant research officer in grade 16 by his father and he was promoted out of turn to grade 19 in 2009. He submitted that other sons of the former secretary were also inducted on lower grade and then granted out-of-turn promotions on grade 17 and above posts by flouting the rules.

The high court was requested to issue a writ of quo warranto and declare that the respondents had been working on higher posts on the basis of out-of-turn promotions.

The petitioner also requested the high court to declare that the initial appointment and subsequent appointments and promotions of the respondents on senior posts were illegal and void ab initio as per dictum laid down by the superior courts.