Notices in Abbottabad Press Club funding case issued

ABBOTTABAD: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) Circuit Bench in Abbottabad has issued notices to the secretary for the Information and Public Relations Department, the director general of Information and the provincial registrar of the joint stock companies and sought comments in a writ petition filed against the alleged illegal funding provided by outgoing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government to unregistered press club during its tenure.

The petitioners had challenged the alleged unlawful registration certificate issued by the provincial registrar of the Industries Department, which had set aside all the codal formalities and issued the document.

The writ petition was filed by three journalists who have remained presidents of the Abbottabad Press club in the past.

A divisional bench of Justice Wiqar Ahmad and Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel admitted the writ petition and sought comments from respondents.

Zaffar Iqbal, Malik Saeed Akhtar and Mehdi Zaman represented the petitioners.

The counsels for petitioners pointed out the alleged illegality in the huge amount in the shape of grant-in-aid provided by the KP government during the last decade.

They argued the KP government, on the one hand, issued the directives to all the press clubs of the province for registration and stated that no funds would be provided to any unregistered body but on the other, violated its own directives.

The counsels quoted a letter from the KP Information Department which stated: “During the course of the audit of this department for the financial year 2019-2020, the audit party deputed for the audit of the Directorate General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recorded their remarks that only those press clubs/unions of journalists are eligible to receive grant-in-aid which are registered with any one of the forums of the state. You are requested to get registered your body with the joint stock companies and societies, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Peshawar or any other forum authorized for the purpose. No grant-in-aid will be entertained without registration of the press club/union of journalists in the future”. They stated that the funding provided to the Abbottabad Press Club was unlawful.

Referring to the minutes of the meeting of the Information Department, it was stated that the dispute resolution committee constituted for the affairs of the press club had issued a preliminary list of 71 bona fide members and had asked for conducting elections as per the list.

The counsels for the petitioners prayed before the PHC bench that the grant-in-aid provided by the KP government to the unregistered body should be declared illegal and unlawful.

They requested that the registration certificate issued by the provincial registrar of the joint stock and companies should also be declared illegal and liable to be cancelled.

It was also prayed that the Abbottabad Press Club management should be restrained from deciding any affairs of the press club without consulting the 71 members of the press club, including petitioners.