Contempt of court: CDA chairman, others put on notice

Petitioner claims the CDA has not been regularising daily wagers despite court orders.

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court has sought a reply from top civic agency officials on a contempt of court petition for not complying with earlier court directives.

Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi issued notice to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman, member administration and director human resources, with directions to submit a reply within two weeks in a case pertaining to the regularisation of a contract employee.

Waqas Saeed’s counsel Khawar Ameer Bukhari contended that the court had earlier ordered the CDA to regularise contractual employees, including the petitioner. But the civic agency officials have not yet implemented the court orders despite a lapse of almost three months.

The counsel claimed that the respondents were “intentionally and wilfully” disobeying court orders, and were liable to be punished for the contemptuous acts. He said that the petitioner had been appointed administrative officer (BS-16) on daily wages at the civic agency in June 2012, and has yet to be regularised.

Bukhari said that in a cabinet committee had approved regularisation of 400 daily wagers including the petitioner in January 2013, which was notified in an office memorandum in March the same year.

He added that the respondents had defied court orders without any lawful justification.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2016.