SHC allows police to submit charge sheet against Jatoi, others

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has allowed the Naushero Feroz police to submit the charge sheet against former federal minister and Grand Democratic Alliance leader Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi and others in criminal cases strictly in accordance with the law.

The direction came on a petition filed by Jatoi and others who had challenged the registration of cases against them by the police allegedly on a political basis. The petitioners’ counsel submitted that police had falsely implicated them in criminal cases as no evidence was available to proceed against them.

The SHC had earlier restrained police from submission of charge sheet against the petitioners till further orders. The high court, however, directed the DIG and Naushero Feroz SSP to continue inquiry in the existing FIR through an honest officer.

The SSP submitted that police had sufficient evidence against the petitioners in the FIR and were prepared to submit the charge sheet. A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha after perusal of the police report directed police to submit the charge sheet strictly in accordance with the law.

Retirement dues

Six retired employees of the local government department have approached the SHC against non-payment of their pension dues. The petitioners, who were employees of grade 11 to 16, submitted that they had retired from the local government department but were not being paid retirement benefits, including pension, gratuity and provident fund.

Their counsel Usman Farooq submitted that the government was bound to pay the outstanding dues to the petitioners within two months after the retirement. The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, Jinnah and Gulshan towns and others had been made respondents in the petition.