SHC to hear plea to restore petition against alleged corruption

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday issued notice to a provincial law officer on an application seeking the restoration of a petition against alleged misappropriation of billions of rupees funds for development projects in Larkana.

The SHC fixed the matter for December 12 to decide on the application. A Larkana resident, Bashir Ahmed, had filed a petition with the SHC seeking an inquiry into the alleged misappropriation of funds over Rs12 billion allocated for the development and beautification of the city.

Ahmed had submitted in his petition that after the 2008 general elections, a project to build roads and drains in Larkana was announced and Rs12 billion were allocated for the project. He alleged that the fund was embezzled. The Larkana resident, however, withdrew his petition later.

Ahmed has now requested the court to restore his earlier petition. He has alleged that he was threatened to withdraw the petition by the agents of Faryal Talpur, Pakistan Peoples Party leader and a sister of the party’s co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

In his new application, the petitioner asked the SHC to hear his earlier petition and pass appropriate orders. A division bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, directed the office to fix the matter for December 12.

Ahmed had alleged in the petition that roads and other development works in Larkana under the project announced after the 2008 elections were completed without any proper planning and substandard material was used by the respondents to embezzle development funds.

The petitioner pointed out that most of the roads that were reconstructed in Larkana disintegrated after rains and developed cracks at different places due to which residents of the city were suffering traffic jams, stagnant sewage on roads and frequent accidents.

It was alleged in the petition that large sums of money were misappropriated from the annual development programme of Larkana. The petitioner asked the SHC to constitute a committee comprising town planners and other experts to investigate ill-planning and misappropriation of funds by the respondents. He also submitted a memorandum along with a number of documents with regard to the development projects.

Earlier, the SHC was informed by the advocate general (AG) that Rs38.397 billion had been allocated for the development projects of Larkana since 2008, of which Rs31.852 billion had been released and Rs23.120 billion spent. The court directed the AG to provide details and cost breakdown of projects on which money had been spent.

Faryal, former town Nazim Dr Shafqat Hussain Soomro, former law minister Ayaz Soomro, project director of Larkana development schemes and others have been named as respondents in the petition.