Blocked court funds Gilgit-Baltistan chief accountant in contempt case

Pasha ordered release of court’s money, later told the bank to withhold the same.

GILGIT:

Gilgit-Baltistan’s Supreme Appellate Court has served a contempt of court notice to the region’s head of the accountant-general of Pakistan for revenue (AGPR) office.

Abdul Hameed Pasha had been summoned in person in a suo motu case but instead a representative appeared before the court.

The court, headed by Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, had taken suo motu action against the AGPR a day earlier which was clubbed with a petition filed by a citizen Liaquat Alam pleading that Pasha had refused to approve his cheque worth Rs2.2 million, court officials said. In response, the court had summoned Pasha to explain his reasons.

Earlier, the court had asked Pasha to explain why the office hadn’t passed the court’s four-million-rupee bill and ordered that the bill be cleared immediately. The office complied and released the bill but later in the day, Pasha wrote to National Bank of Pakistan’s Gilgit office requesting them not to release the money.

Upon this, the court summoned the accountant-general in person but a representative appeared instead, forcing it to issue a contempt of court notice against Pasha. He has also been asked to submit a written reply by July 4 as to why he wrote a letter to the bank.

Suspending the accountant-general’s letter, the court ruled that the AGPR’s conduct was tantamount to contempt of court and interference in court matters.

Meanwhile, AGPR staff in various districts observed a strike on Saturday against the court’s decision.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2011.