PHC allows honorarium to artistes

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday vacated the stay order on the honorarium of Rs30,000 to 500 artistes due to the financial crisis of the community.

A division bench comprising Justice Syed Afsar Shah and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim vacated the stay order on the monthly stipend of the artistes after some of them filed an application and prayed the court that due to the stay order on government’s honorarium, they were facing hardships.

During hearing of the case, some artistes submitted an application and requested the court to vacate the stay order on the honorarium keeping in view their severe financial crisis.

Bibi Saeeda and 39 other television and stage artistes along with singers and producers challenged the monthly honoraria approved for 500 artistes, poets and writers of the province. Syed Akhtar Durrani advocate represented the petitioners in the case.

The petitioners’ claimed that the list provided for award of honorarium had not been prepared transparently and irrelevant people were included in it. They submitted that they deserved the honorarium but were ignored.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had started paying Rs30,000 per month each as a stipend to 500 talented artistes and singers of the province for a year. However, the petitioners claimed that a fake list of 500 artistes was prepared. They alleged that the honorarium was given even to foreigners, mostly Afghan artistes, who were not entitled under the listed criteria.