SHC summons comments on petition against land occupation by Rangers

The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the provincial chief of the Rangers and the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) on Wednesday to file comments on a petition of KDA officers against illegal occupation of their plots by the paramilitary force, reports Jamal Khurshid.

Uzma Naz and 20 other KDA officers submitted in their petition that they had been allotted plots of 200 square yards at the KDA Officers Cooperative Housing Society in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal locality.

They said they had completed all the legal formalities and paid the liable dues to the revenue department, but the revenue authorities had not handed over possession of the land to them.

They added that in 2006 the defunct KDA had allowed the Sindh Rangers to reside in the bungalow adjacent to the officers’ premises as a temporary arrangement to perform their duties with regard to maintaining law and order in the city, but now the paramilitary officials were refusing to vacate the premises.

They claimed that the Sindh Rangers had illegally occupied their plots with the connivance of senior officers of the defunct KDA and the Sindh Board of Revenue (BoR). The counsel for the petitioners submitted that his clients had been suffering huge losses due to illegal occupation of their lands by the Rangers and that the paramilitary force had no bona fide right to possess them.

The court was requested to declare that the petitioners were lawful owners of the lands in question and the Rangers enjoyed no legal entitlement to usurp them. The court was also requested to direct the Rangers director general to immediately vacate the premises with further direction to the KDA Officers Cooperative Housing Society and the BoR to hand over peaceful possession of land to the petitioners.

The SHC division bench headed by Justice Irfan Saadat Khan directed the Sindh Rangers DG, the KDA Officers Cooperative Housing Society and others to file comments on the petition on January 11, with the order that status quo would be continued until the next date of hearing.  

NTS entry tests

The SHC directed the provincial government to file their comments on a petition against cancellation of the test results for admissions in medical colleges and universities. The court also continued the interim stay order restraining the provincial administration from announcing the new date for holding fresh entry test for admissions in public medical colleges and universities.

The petitioners, who are medical students, had submitted that after the announcement of the test results, rumours were spread on social media that the question paper of the National Testing Service (NTS), which conducted the test, was leaked a day before the test.

They submitted that the health department, without any lawful authority or reason to justify, gave advantage to the failed students and constituted a committee to enquire into the leaking of the question paper, which was beyond its scope and jurisdiction. The petitioners’ counsel, Anwar Mansoor Khan, submitted that the provincial government had no authority to cancel the NTS test results.

Health Secretary Fazlullah Pechuho submitted an enquiry report mentioning that the entry test was mishandled by the NTS and it failed to secure its printing press along with trained staff.

He submitted that the decision for cancelling the test results was made after the enquiry report that found the entry tests were mishandled by the NTS.

The counsel for the national testing system submitted that the NTS also conducted an enquiry with regard to the leaking of the question paper, but no negligence was found in the medical universities’ entry tests. He questioned the government’s enquiry report because the NTS was not heard in the enquiry’s proceedings.

The SHC division bench headed by Justice Munib Akhtar directed the provincial law officer to file comments and, in the meantime, continued the interim stay order restraining the provincial government from announcing the new date for conducting fresh entry test for admissions in public medical colleges and universities.

A day earlier the court had suspended the operation of the notification of the Sindh government regarding cancellation of the results of the entry test for public medical colleges and universities and barred the government from conducting fresh entry tests.

Petitioners Haziq Khursheed and the Pasban Welfare Foundation moved the court challenging the decision of the provincial government with regard to cancellation of entry tests conducted by the NTS for admissions in medical colleges and universities.

The petitioners submitted that the health department, for mala fide reasons and for protecting the interests of the failed candidates, had issued the notification to cancel the results of the entry tests.

They also submitted that the petitioners and other candidates who had passed the test had acquired the vested rights as there was no allegation on such passing candidates nor there was any allegation of cheating against them.