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The Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench allowed Privatisation Commission (PC)
to hold second round of bidding for the sale of the 90 % shares of Thatta
Cement Company Limited (TCCL) Haji Saifullah and M/s Al Abbass and others
would be free to participate in the auction, which should be held by PC not
before seven days from today i.e September 19, 2003. The honorable court
dismissed the suit filed by Haji Saifullah against Privatisation Commission to
prevent it from accepting the bid for sale of 90 % shares of Thatta Cement
Company Limited (TCCL).
The suit of Haji Saifullah against the PC was fixed today before Mr. Justice
Ali Nawaz Chohan of Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench for hearingof the
injunction application. Syed Iqbal Haider senior advocate of the Supreme Court
appeared on behalf of the PC and filed a statement in thecourt stating that:
"In pursuance of the decision taken by the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation
(CCOP) on 17th September, 2003, the Defendant No:2 has decided not to accept
bids of any of the bidders including the Defendant No:3 or of the Plaintiff.
Instead it has been decided to invite fresh bids from the four persons
including the Plaintiff and the Defendant No:3 who had already participated in
the bidding which was held on 28th August 2003 for the sale of 90% shares of
the Thatta Cement Company Ltd on "as is where is" basis.
It may also be noted that at the written request of the Plaintiff, the
Defendant No:2 has returned on 3rd September 2003 the pay order of Rs 50
million, which was presented by the Plaintiff as the Earnest Money.
In view of the aforesaid the suit as filed by the Plaintiff has become
infractuous and not maintainable, hence it is liable to be dismissed." After
heating arguments of Mr. Hassan Aurangzeb, Advocate of the Plaintiff as well
as Mr. Iqbal Haider, Advocate of the Privatisation Commission, the Honorable
Court while dismissing the suit and application for interim injunction
observed that since Haji Saifullah had already withdrawn his earnest money on
the 3rd Sept, 2003, he has no lien and is out of the contest. The court,
however, directed that transparency in such transaction should always be
ensured and if the Plaintiff has any grievance he may make a representation to
Privatisation Commission within one day. PC should communicate it s decision
on such a representation if filed by Haji Saifullah within five days, after
hearing him.