KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday issued notices to the federal authorities, the chief secretary, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and others on another lawsuit against the construction of a flyover and two underpasses near the Hazrat Abdullah Shah Ghazi shrine.

Justice Muneeb Alchtar, who headed a single bench of SHC, was seized with the hearing of a lawsuit filed by Vikash Kumar, who requested the court to grant an interim order, restraining a real estate concern to stop the construction work on the flyover and underpasses that is said to have posed serious threat to the structure of 150-year-old temple in Clifton.

However, the judge observed that since an order of the SHC division bench that allowed Bahria Town to carry out the construction of the project was in field, no injunction could be granted.

For the time being, he issued notice to defendants and adjourned the hearing of case till April 17.

The plaintiff said that Bahria Town undertook the project, the Grade Separated Improvement Plan, from the Park Tower traffic intersection to the A.T. Naqvi roundabout, which included the construction of a flyover in front of Park Towers in Clifton and the underpasses near Kothari Parade, as part of the Bahria Town Icon Tower project.

He said that the construction was being carried out without following the requisite environmental laws and there existed unrest among the Hindu community about the construction that had posed a serious threat to the foundation of 150-year-old Shri Ratneshwar Mahadev Temple.

Ground vibrations from excavation for the flyover were close to the temple and could cause the collapse of this struc-ture, he added.

The temple is protected under Sindh Heritage Act 1994, therefore, no construction work in or around temple be carried out. He asked the court to restrain the real estate concern from continuing with the construction of the flyover and underpasses.

NAB barred from arresting ex-chairman PSM A division bench of the SHC restrained the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting former Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) chairman Moeen Aftab Shaikh in references relating to corruption in the PSM.

The SHC bench, headed by Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, issued notice to the cabinet division secretary and NAB authorities for filing comments and adjourned the hearing of the case to a date to be fixed later by the court office.

Petitioners counsel Ismat Mehdi told the judges that former PSM chairman had been issued a notice by the NAB authorities directing him to appear before assistant director investigation in an inquiry into PSM corruption case.

The counsel said that the former chairman had been nominated in eight references for allegedly misusing his powers with ill-intentions, causing billions of loss to PSM. In all these references, he had been allowed bail.

She said that under the garb of same allegations, Moeen had again been issued a notice with mala fide intentions. She asked the court to restrain the NAB from arresting the former chairman and declare the letter issued to him illegal.

The court restrained the NAB authorities from taking any coercive action against the former PSM chairman in viola-tion of laws. It directed him to appear before the NAB authorities for recording his statement.

The services of the PSM ex-chairman, who had been appointed on a contract basis, was terminated by the then Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on August 18, 2008.

Notice issue d The SHC once again issued a notice to Bilal Mustafa Khar, the prime suspect in Fakhra Younus acid attack case, to file comments in a petition seeking reopening of the acid attack case.

A division bench of the SHC, headed by Chief Justice Maqbool Bagar, was seized with the hearing of a petition filed by three NGOs, Pakistan Institute of Labor Education and Research, Shirkatgah and Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, seeking effective implementation of criminal laws for investigation of crimes against women, particularly acid attack cases.

Fakhra had killed herself by jumping off the sixth floor of her apartment situated in the Italian city of Rome on March 17, 2012. Her husband Bilal Khar, former Punjab governor, had allegedly burned her face with acid in 2000.

Advocate Faisal Siddique representing the petitioners said that Bilal, who attacked her spouse in May 2000, was arrested after a delay of nearly two years and finally acquitted by a sessions judge (south) on Dec 16, 2003 for want of evidence. He said that Bilal was acquitted as four eyewitnesses could not identify him in court. The lawyer argued that the judgement had been pronounced without fulfilling legal requirements and demanded that the case be reopened.-PPI