Ch. Afrasiab Khan, ASC, successfully represented Konish Enterprise (Pvt.) Ltd. before the Supreme Court of Pakistan in an appeal filed by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd. (“PTCL”) against a judgment of the Peshawar High Court. The judgment is reported at PLD 2020 SC 261.
Under a contract with the National Highways Authority (“NHA”), Konish was engaged in the business of planting and maintaining tens of thousands of trees along certain roads in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. PTCL started laying an underground optic fibre cable along the same roads and damaged a large number of plants in the process. Konish sued PTCL for damages. The Civil Judge allowed Konish’s claim. The Peshawar High Court upheld the judgment of the Civil Judge. PTCL appealed to the Supreme Court where Konish was represented by Ch. Afrasiab Khan, ASC.
PTCL argued that the suit filed by Konish was incompetent as proper authority to institute the same, whether by way of the relevant resolution of the Board of Directors or the company’s Articles of Association, had not been produced. The Supreme Court dismissed this objection. Mr. Justice Munib Akhtar, writing for the Court, relied upon Pak Turk Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd. v. Turk Hava Yollari (Turkish Airlines Inc.) [2015 CLC 1] to hold that it was not necessary to produce such an authority in this case.
PTCL also argued that it owed no duty of care to Konish as it had entered NHA’s property under a valid license from NHA and it was impossible to work that license without damaging Konish’s plants. Mr. Justice Munib Akhtar held that a duty of care did exist and that there can be no doubt that the record establishes that PTCL worked its license in a manner that caused injury and damage to Konish.
The Supreme Court dismissed PTCL’s appeal and upheld the judgment for damages in favour of Konish.