LAHORE: The Lahore High Court Wednesday accepted apology from Punjab chief secretary in a contempt petition for not complying with the court orders regarding demolition of two shops in Toba Tek Singh.
As the proceedings commenced, Punjab Chief Secretary Zahid Saeed appeared before Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti and tendered an unconditional apology. The court accepted his apology and warned him of initiating contempt proceedings against him if he failed to appear before the court.
The court directed the chief secretary to submit within two-week a compliance report about an order of the high court being flouted since 1986. Previously, the court expressed serious concerns over absence of the chief secretary despite repeated notices, and issued his warrants. The judge had observed the conduct of the chief secretary was amounted to undermining the authority of the court for which contempt proceedings should have been initiated against him. The judge had ordered him to appear in person to explain as to why the court orders were not being complied with.
Taj Din, a resident of Toba Tek Singh, had moved the contempt petition seeking action against the local district administration for not allotting him an alternate property against his shop demolished by the government. The petitioner was a tenant of seven-marla plot of district council on which he constructed a shop.
The petitioner obtained a stay order against demolition of his shop but despite the stay order the local government demolished shops of the petitioner and other tenants. He submitted that the high court also decided the case in his favour in 1986, however, since then he had been waiting for the implementation of the order.
The petitioner submitted that the government during hearing of a contempt petition in 1995 had undertaken before the court that alternate shop would be provided to him. However, he said the government had been delaying the implementation of the order despite two more contempt petitions filed in 1997 and 2011. He sought action against the district commissioner TT Singh under contempt of court charges.
01pt;text-align: justify;line-height:200%;background:white'>As for as BoP scam is concerned, on September 27, 2007, NAB Punjab had filed a reference against 12 accused including six officials of Bank of Punjab (BoP) and six others accused of Rs 9 billion fraud. The investigation showed that accused Shaikh Afzal, the director of the Haris Steel, with co-accused Muhammad Munir, Ali Ijaz, Abid Raza and Irfan Ali, in connivance with BoP ex-president Hamesh Khan, Haroon Aziz, Azizul Hameed, Muhammad Shoaib Qureshi, ex-general managers BoP Muhammad Adil Khan, Muhammad Nauman Arif and Muhammad Ziaul Haq, allegedly opened 23 fictitious accounts by their fake and forged national identity cards and obtained loans of approximately Rs 9 billion from 2005 to 2007. The accused with the help of fake documentation, bogus collaterals, fictitious guarantees and mortgage deals executed the fraud. suspension: Jam Sajjad Hussain, public relations officer of Rescue 1122, challenged his suspension in the Lahore High Court through a writ petition.
The petitioner said in the petition he was appointed as PRO in 2012 on contract and he enjoyed unblemished career. He said his high-ups always admired his work.
He said an employee of the department filed a frivolous complaint of harassment against him. He said DG 1122 constituted an inquiry committee but the complainant lady instead of appearing before the inquiry committee filed the same complaint before additional chief secretary who without lawful authority entrusted the same to member inquiries.
He said suddenly he knew through media that he had been found guilty in the said inquiry and suspended from the service. He requests the court to set aside his suspension order and order Rescue 1122 to allow him perform his duties without interruption.
