PSB mulling options in Ganjera case

KARACHI: After the Lahore High Court (LHC) dismissed the intra-court appeal of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) which it had filed for defending the appointment of its former Director General and current DG Technical and Training Dr Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera, the country’s sports governing body is now weighing different options on how to pursue the case of its boss.
“We are examining different possibilities and soon we will be in a position to decide what we should do,” PSB legal advisor Mohammad Irfanullah Khan told ‘The News’ on Tuesday.
A couple of months back on the writ petition filed by Zain-ul-Aziz Khan Babar in which he had challenged the appointment of Akhtar Ganjera as DG PSB, the LHC had given its verdict in which it had declared Ganjera’s appointment as DG PSB a violation of law and public interest.
The court had also declared the post of DG PSB as vacant and had advised the government to fill in the post according to rules.
However, the PSB filed an intra-court appeal but it was also dismissed a few days ago.
“We will decide what to do after thoroughly examining the detailed judgment of the LHC regarding our intra-court appeal. There could be so many options and one of them might be to go to Supreme Court,” Irfan added.
The secretary of the ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Mohammad Ijaz Chaudhry is now also looking after the affairs of the Board in the absence of its Director General.
Ganjera, on the other hand, is now working as DG PSB Technical and Training.
When former DG PSB Amir Hamza Gilani was alive, Ganjera was working in the same capacity as DG Technical and Training. However after Gilani’s demise early last year, Ganjera was appointed as DG PSB.
Irfan was also confident that the Board was in a position to win its legal battle against Pakistan Football Federation (PFF).
“The other day the hearing was held. And when our turn came around 2pm we were asked to present our point of view in the next hearing which will be held on May 20,” Irfan said.
“Our case is strong and hopefully we will win it,” Irfan added.
In the wake of the implementation of the national sports policy, PFF had challenged the role of the ministry of IPC and the entity of the PSB.
The PFF is the only federation which has not implemented the tenure restriction clause of the sports policy which was also a bone of contention between Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) and the PSB
“As far as the Punjab Football Association’s (PFA) elections are concerned so I had been invited by the Sports Board Punjab (SBP) Director General for a meeting on last Monday but I could not go. I will now go to Lahore on May 19 and will try to meet the SBP top official,” Irfan said.
The LHC has advised the SBP to submit the details of the PFA election which had turned out to be highly controversial on April 17.
Irfan says that a proposal is also is being weighed how litigation in the national sports affairs could be obstructed in future.
“A proposal has been given in the PSB executive committee meeting last week that there should be a certain arbitration body which could handle the disputes of the federations before these could be taken to the courts. We are thinking how such a mechanism could be prepared to resolve the critical issue of litigation,” Irfan said.
He questioned if the federations had their arbitration bodies then why such disputes had been created which had been inflicting damage on sports. “There is a need of an alternative which could provide remedy,” Irfan said.