Last opportunity: Response sought on MPAs’ appointments

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court on Monday gave a last opportunity to the local government secretary and 12 Members of the Provincial Assembly (MPAs) to file their replies on a petition seeking cancellation of the MPAs’ appointments as directors of five public-sector companies in the province.

The respondents were asked to submit their replies by April 22.

In his petition, Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab assembly Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed submitted that MPAs Kashif Padhiar, Aman Ullah Khan, Qazi Adnan Fareed, Rana Baber Hussain, Chaudhry Lal Hussain, Mahmood Qadir Khan, Qamarul Islam, and Waheed Gul were serving as directors of the Punjab Saaf Pani Company; MPAs Nasreen Nawaz, Ramazan Siddique Bhatti, and Kiran Dar of the Lahore Parking Company; MPA Ramazan Siddique Bhatti also of the Lahore Transport Company; MPA Majid Zahoor of the Lahore Waste Management Company; and MPA Hussain Jahanian Gardezi of the Punjab Agriculture and Meat Company.

Rasheed said these companies were incorporated under Section 42 of the Companies Ordinance 1984 and were owned by the provincial government. He said the MPAs’ appointment to these companies as directors was in violation of the Public Sector Companies Corporate Government Rules 2013. He said that under the Section 3(7) of the rules personnel with a political or a legislative office were not eligible to be appointed as directors of public-sector companies.

Rasheed said the MPAs had violated their statutory obligations. He requested the court to issue directions for authorities concerned to enforce the Public Sector Companies Corporate Governance Rules 2013 and to cancel the appointment of the 12 MPAs.

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