SHC suspends appointment of SITE managing director

karachi: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has suspended the notification with regard to the appointment of the Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) managing director (MD) till further orders.

The interim order came on a petition of Zulfiqar Ali Channa with regard to the appointment of Syed Arif Ahmed Zaidi as the SITE managing director.

A counsel for the petitioner, Ahmed Ali Hussain, had submitted that a government servant could be appointed as the SITE MD but the respondent did not have good service record as he was dismissed from the service.

He submitted that the high court had earlier suspended the order with regard to assigning him additional charge of the secretary and the impugned notification was withdrawn.

He said the respondent had again been appointed and the management of SITE and other respondents had adopted a misleading attitude to favour Zaidi.

A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Faisal Kamal Alam after a preliminary hearing of the petition issued notices to SITE, Sindh industries and commerce secretary, and others, calling their comments on the next date of hearing.

The high court observed that the contention raised in the petition required consideration and in the meantime, suspended the impugned notification.

The bench observed that the Sindh government in the intervening period could appoint some eligible and suitable person to hold the acting charge till the court decided the case.

The SHC directed that a senior officer from the Sindh government shall also appear before the court in order to justify re-appointment of the respondent in SITE.

Missing person case

The SHC issued notices to federal and provincial law officers on a petition against illegal detention of a man allegedly by law enforcement agencies.

The petitioner, Pak Khan, submitted that his brother Taj Mohammad had been picked up by personnel of law enforcement agencies from the SITE area and his whereabouts were unknown since March 21, 2025.

A counsel for the petitioner submitted that neither were police disclosing the whereabouts of the detained man nor were they providing details of cases pending against him to the family.

The counsel requested the high court to direct police and other law enforcement agencies to provide details of cases against the detained person and produce him before a court of law.

A division bench of the high court headed by Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput after the preliminary hearing of the petition issued notices to the federal and provincial law officers and others and directed the SITE SHO to ensure the production of the detained man on the next hearing.