Education foundation: Additional questions’ answers on April 28th

Appointment of eight directors challenged in LHC as unlawful.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court has adjourned till April 28 a petition challenging the appointment of eight Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) directors.

A reply was submitted in the court on behalf of Punjab government and Education Department stating that all the appointments had been made legally.

The court asked the Education Department deputy secretary to explain whether the directors belonged to the private sector as per law.

The deputy secretary responded that the officers had been working without a salary. He sought time from the court to reply to other queries.

The public interest petition was filed by Muhammad and Ahmad, a law firm, through counsel Muhammad Azhar Siddique. He said that according to Section 5 of the PEF Act 2004, the board should consist of seven government and eight non-government directors. He alleged that the Punjab government, through a notification dated March 18, 2011, appointed six government officers on seats reserved for non-government directors.

He said that the appointments were politically motivated and illegal. He asked the court to stop the ‘illegally’ appointed directors from functioning.





Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th, 2011.