Arrears of Girls Guide College suspended

SC directs Punjab AAG to review bills

ISLAMABAD:

The apex court on Tuesday bailed out the cash-strapped Girls Guide College in Rawalpindi, suspending a whopping bill of arrears sent by the city’s district administration.

This was directed on Tuesday as a three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC), comprising Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar, heard a contempt plea petition filed by the Girls Guide College in Rawalpindi against the city’s Commissioner.

Advocate Ayesha Hamid, who was representing the college told the court that the college is run by the Girls Guide Association (GGA) of Pakistan.

The association has six offices across the country.

The counsel added that the Rawalpindi Commissioner had recently sent them a massive bill.

Providing a breakdown of the bill, she said that it included arrears under the head of rent for the land and building worth Rs415,000.

Separately, the counsel said, the commissioner had sent the college a bill of arrears worth a whopping Rs 1.2 million.

All told, Hamid said that the college had been billed a small fortune of Rs1.6 million.

At this, Chief Justice Ahmed asked why such heavy bills were sent.

He further inquired whether the offices of the GGA are being used for commercial purposes as well.

Justice Ahsan asked where do the GGA get funds to run their operations?

At this, the counsel replied that the association is not involved in commercial activities as per its charter. She further clarified that no commercial operations take place in their offices.

However, to sustain the girls-only order, Hamid said that the government provides it with a paltry annual grant of Rs17 million.

During the course of Tuesday's proceedings, the court directed the Punjab Additional Advocate General Faisal Chaudhry to take instructions from the Rawalpindi commissioner on the bill of arrears and inform the court about the matter.

The bench then suspended the bills issued by the commissioner and further hearings of the case were adjourned indefinitely.

The GGA is the national guiding organization of the country. It serves around 117,692 members.

It was founded in 1911 as part of the Indian Girl Guiding.

The girls-only organization became independent in 1947 along with the country after Partition.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2020.