Contempt notice to secretary

LAHORE:The Lahore High Court Thursday issued a contempt of court notice to Punjab Secretary for Primary Healthcare Capt (r) Muhammad Usman for his contemptuous conduct and appointed a law officer as prosecutor for the indictment of the bureaucrat.

The secretary was supposed to appear before the court of Justice Shahid Waheed on Wednesday in a contempt petition filed by a citizen against non compliance of a previous decision. However, he skipped the hearing and made his appearance before the court the next day on Thursday. Mr Usman tendered unconditional apology; however, the judge dismissed the same with an observation that the conduct of the officer did not deserve clemency.

Justice Waheed also reprimanded Assistant Advocate General Gohar Nawaz Sindhu for asking the court to show leniency in the matter. The judge remarked that if senior officers showed such kind of conduct before courts then what could be expected from juniors.

The secretary tried to explain that he had great respect for the courts and never thought of defiance. The judge, however, rejected the explanation and observed that the secretary violated the court’s directions and even did not bother to answer phone calls of the law officers. The judge ordered the secretary to appear on March 9 along with his personal counsel when charges would be framed on him by the law officer being prosecutor.