SUKKUR - An accountability court in Sukkur on Monday adjourned the hearing of assets beyond means case against Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and former opposition leader Syed Khursheed Shah.
The hearing was adjourned until July 14 due to non-appointment of a presiding officer of the Sukkur accountability court.
The court has been lying vacant for the past one and a half month since the completion of former accountability judge Ameer Ali Mahesar’s tenure. Many important references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) are facing delays owing to the non-availability of a judge.
The anti-graft watchdog had filed the assets beyond means reference of Rs 1.23 billion against Syed Khursheed Shah and 17 co-accused. The bureau nominated his two wives, two sons, and son-in-law in the reference.
It is noteworthy that the accountability court had granted bail to Shah last year in December due to delay on the part of the bureau to file the reference against him.
However, the Sindh High Court (SHC) Circuit Bench Sukkur later suspended the accountability court’s bail orders on Dec 17.
Earlier in April, the SHC also rejected the plea filed by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Syed Khursheed Shah seeking bail in the assets case. He has now approached the Supreme Court for post-arrest bail.
Private schools to help
teachers conduct online classes
Private school teachers will now be provided facilities to conduct online classes by the schools’ management, All Private Schools Association Chairperson Tariq Shah said.
“We have also taken permission from the government to allow teachers to conduct online classes from the school premises,” he said while talking during a private TV channel programme on Monday. This way, they will be using the facilities provided to them by schools, Shah said.
“Initially teachers had been using their own facilities because there was a lockdown and schools had been closed down for three months,” he elaborated. “But now, with the smart lockdown, things are falling back into place.”
Shah said schools had also made sure that they paid their teachers’ salaries from their own pockets. “There were some teachers who were employed on contract basis and laid off as their contracts were not renewed.”
The chairperson acknowledged that both for parents and students, the new system of online classes was difficult to manage as it was a shift from “conventional schooling methods”.
“We will have problems and issues will come up but we will have to solve them,” he said.
One of these issues is fees charged by schools. Despite government orders to provide concessions to parents, schools have still been charging complete fees.
Shah said, however, that a majority of schools provided up to 30% concessions to parents. “Some schools even let parents keep fees in arrears up to three months to reduce their financial burden.”
He added that parents facing problems could register their complaints at the complaint cell on the website of the Directorate of Private Institutions or call +92 2199 2174 89-90.