SHC suspends notification for appointment of Malir Development Authority DG

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday suspended a notification with regard to the repatriation and appointment of the Malir Development Authority (MDA) director general (DG) till further orders.

The interim order came on a petition of Faizan Latif against the repatriation and appointment of MDA DG Mohammad Sohail in violation of the Supreme Court order. A counsel for the petitioner submitted that the respondent was first appointed in the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and later transferred to the MDA under the city district government. He submitted that the respondent was repatriated to his parent department KMC on directions of the Supreme Court in 2016 but despite the court directives, he was again transferred to the MDA and given an additional charge of the MDA DG in May 2022. The counsel informed the SHC that the MDA had issued a notification in October 2018 in which it had declared the MDA DG as a cadre post, due to which the transfer and appointment of the respondent as the MDA DG by the local government secretary was illegal. The high court was requested to declare the impugned notification with regard to the transfer and appointment of the MDA DG as unlawful and in violation of the apex court judgment. He further requested the high court to declare that the MDA DG was a cadre post and the new appointment shall be made therein in accordance with the law.

The high court, after the preliminary hearing of the petition, issued notices to the Sindh advocate general Sindh, local government secretary and others, and called their comments on June 27. In the meantime, the SHC suspended the impugned notification.