SHC tells petitioner to submit amended application

TANVEER AHMED

KARACHI: Following enactment of Sindh Universities & Institutes Act, Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the petitioner to submit an amended application to challenge the Act. The court took up the case when the Act was still in the process of legislation after being passed by Sindh Assembly last month.

As the bill has been enacted into Act, the petitioner should submit amended application in the court, a division bench of SHC ordered.

The court admitted a petition of Pasban President Altaf Shakoor last month, who challenged the legislation, contending that this bill snatches the authority of governor of the province, who represented the federation and empowers Sindh chief minister to have the final say on the administrative affairs of the universities.

Sindh Assembly, upon refusal of Sindh governor to sign the legislation again took up the bill and passed it to enact it into an Act. The court took up the hearing on the petition and directed the petitioner to submit an amended application as Sindh Universities & Institutes (Amended) bill has been made law.

Justice Aqeel Abbasi ordered the petitioner and respondents to appear on May 8 by submitting their replies along with gazette notification.

Earlier, the petitioner’s counsel pleaded before the court that this piece of legislation is an illegal act of the provincial government, which put 24 public sector universities in Sindh under the administrative control of Sindh chief minister. He contended that the bill also snatches away the autonomy from the public sector universities of the province as eight bureaucrats of provincial government would be sitting in the syndicate of universities out of 10 members’ strength.

The petitioner’s counsel described the bill as detrimental to the atmosphere at the public universities, making them the stronghold of political parties. He also termed the bill anti-urban centers of Sindh as in his views it would close down the doors of these universities on students of these areas.

The petitioner also pointed out that all universities’ teachers and staff have rejected the bill, adding that aims and objectives of the legislation should be bona fide for the welfare of society rather than to pass illegal and unwanted bills in the assembly.

The petitioner has made Chief Minister Sindh, Governor Sindh, Speaker Sindh Assembly and Chief Secretary Sindh respondents in the petition.

Recovery of kidnapped and missing children

Sindh High Court has directed Sindh Police to recover the kidnapped and missing children in Karachi by employing all resources when it took up a petition on growing incidents of kidnapping of children from various parts of the city.

The petition was filed in SHC by Roshni Helpline, which drew the attention of the court to the latest spate of kidnapping of children. Around 19 children were kidnapped or went missing recently.

The petitioner’s counsel said that 2,000-3,000 children have been kidnapped or went missing in the city but police failed to register such cases. He pleaded that a separate desk should be established in all police stations to register such cases. Police’s counsel submitted that the department is striving to check the kidnappings and efforts are being made to arrest those involved in these acts. The bench put off the hearing for May 10.