Reply sought from secy, DCO in contempt plea

LAHORE
The Lahore High Court sought a reply from the Punjab additional secretary (internal security) and DCO on a contempt petition filed by Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation against them.
Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation had filed the petition through Advocate A K Dogar and submitted that Punjab Additional Secretary Syed Wajahat Ali Hamdani and Lahore DCO Muhammad Usman did not comply with the court order which is contempt of court. The petitioner’s counsel said that the foundation worked for the welfare of the humans and society and had not been involved in any kind of terrorism.
The law officer had also confessed before the court that the foundation is not a terrorist organisation but despite the clear orders of the court the organisation had not been given the normal status.
The foundation is also being stopped from carrying out its business, the counsel said. He requested the court to initiate contempt proceedings against the officials concerned for not complying with the court’s orders.
After hearing the arguments of the petitioner’s counsel, Justice Mahmood Maqbool Bajwa issued notices to Punjab additional secretary and DCO and put off hearing till Oct 21.
In another case, Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh of the LHC declined hearing of a petition filed by Aitchison College Principal Agha Ghazanfar and sent it to the chief justice to fix it before any other bench.
Agha Ghazanfar, in his petition, had submitted that the board of governors of the school did not adhere to the settlement according to which he was allowed to stay at school and use of the perks and privileges available to him from the school. He stated that he was being teased while his powers had also not been restored. He had requested the court to hold the proceedings of the case in an open court.
The counsel of board of governors said that the court held in-camera proceedings previously on the request of the petitioner and now he wanted open court proceedings. However, the judge declined to hear the case for personal reasons and sent it to the chief justice for its fixing before any other bench.