KARACHI: A division bench of High Court of Sindh (SHC) comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed  on Tuesday deferred hearing of a petitions challenging powers of the Director General Valuation for Feb 24 as counsel for main answering respondent was not present.

Three identical petitions were filed by half a dozen companies/importer including Jilani Enterprises, Salman Enterprises and Hamdam Paper Products. Aqeel Ahmed Khan Advocate representing the petitioner cited the judgment of SHC in a petition filed by Trade Link Corporation and said that  issue involved in these petition has already been decided. He sought an order implementing the cite judgment in these petitions too. According to his contention even correction of clerical errors was beyond the jurisdiction of the officers of Valuation department. “The Director Valuation becomes Functious Officio and could not therefore amend or alter the Valuation Ruling by issuing a corrigendum”, Aqeel advocate contended.

Masooda Siraj advocate, counsel for Valuation department sought time saying that leading counsel Haider Sheikh advocate is not in attendance hence the hearing be deferred.

The bench allowing the request fixed Feb 24 as next date of hearing.