Appointment challenged

LAHORE :Appointment of a PML-N’s loyalist as Punjab chief information commissioner has been challenged before the Lahore High Court for being made in violation of the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act, 2013.

A lawyer has filed the petition in public interest. He submitted that appointment of senior advocate and former parliamentarian Naseer Ahmad Bhutta as chief information commissioner has been made purely on political basis. The lawyer stated that Mr Bhutta was elected as MNA from Lahore in 2008 on PML-N’s ticket, which clearly shows that he has a long and very close association with the ruling political party. He said the respondent is also president of PML-N Lawyers Forum and two days before his appointment as chief information commissioner he resigned as Pakistan’s additional attorney general, a post which was given to him in 2013 by ousted PM Nawaz Sharif.