FDE DG submits reply to show-cause notice in IHC

Islamabad
Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) Director General Shahnaz A. Riaz here on Friday submitted her reply before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in response to a show-cause notice issued to her on August 25 for misbehaving with the court.
On August 24, IHC Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi had issued her bailable arrest warrants for not appearing before the court despite issuance of notices.
Regarding a pending dispute of payment to a furniture supplier, the FDE director general has submitted before the court that the outstanding amount of Rs1.237 million has been cleared and her absence was not deliberate and it was due to the fact that she was busy in a meeting with standing committee. Her mobile phone was switched off, therefore, her staff could not contact her.
IHC Justice Qureshi, however, directed Islamabad Advocate General Mian Abdul Rauf to submit the call details of Ms Shehnaz A Riaz and the proof of her attendance in the meeting of the standing committee. The IHC adjourned further hearing till September 14.
It is to mention here that Ms Shehnaz A Riaz was supposed to appear before the court on August 24 failing which the IHC had issued her bailable arrest warrants. On August 25 when she appeared before the court, she behaved odd and strange in a quarrelsome manner before the IHC bench, after which the august court ordered her arrest, issued show-cause notice and directed her to submit personal recognition (PR) bonds worth Rs50,000 to the IHC registrar's office alongside bail bonds of the same amount. She was briefly arrested on August 25 and later released.
The matter pertains to the clearance of bills that some contractors had been claiming from the FDE on account of provision of furniture to government schools in Islamabad.