LAHORE: A writ petition has been moved in the Lahore High Court (LHC) seeking a judicial inquiry into the alleged massive corruption in the laptop scheme launched by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
The petitioner, Mian Shahid Abbas, has made Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML) President Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif respondents.
Abbas has submitted that as per a report of Transparency International, the laptop scheme will cause a loss of Rs1.70 billion to the national exchequer.
He states that the Punjab government has purchased each laptop for Rs 35,000, but the actual price is Rs25,000.
Abbas states that the scheme is being used as a tool to carry out the political campaign of PML-N, further stating that pictures of Nawaz Sharif were being used in newspaper advertisements of Punjab government and that this was against the law.
The petition prays that the court order a judicial inquiry into the matter and get the embezzled money back.
The government of Punjab has been distributing free laptops to ‘talented’ students under the e-Youth Initiative program. The number of laptops distributed among the students has reached 85,000 out of the 125,000 laptops announced by the provincial government.
The laptops, priced at Rs37,700 each, are distributed among students in elaborate ceremonies under the program.
It has also been alleged that some laptops received by the students are being sold online and at markets in Lahore.
The LHC has also directed the convener of Youth Development Program to investigate whether the laptops being distributed at Government University College (GCU) were on the basis of personal liking.
COMMENTS (30)
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@Arif Khan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sartaj_Aziz Vice-Chancellor of the Beaconhouse National University, former Secretory General of PMLN & its Foreign & Finance minister.
Sir kindly change ur criteria i hvae thrughout out class grades just have 1 2nd div due ko some problems kindly change the merit which contains the overall results plz merit ager apja slogan hai to usko effective banain
@ sukker sahab, where are these SHABAZA laptops from?? not Japan certainly
@Logic Europe: Made in China products are only for one months use. Duplicate cheap parts and pirated software is the official policy of China. We do not get service or spares for those items made in China. They are sold on the streets of Karachi.
@saeed just go to dell website u will come to know that they do charge for the bag . . . not only bag, whatever additional accessories, equipments or services (bag, antivirus, extended warranty, fast in-house repair etc) u will get u will have to pay extra . . . dont believe me just check it on dell website.
@Arif Khan: When Robert Gates was appointed Defense Secretory by US President George Bush he was head of University of Texas. He continued under Barack Obama.
This program was roll out in rush with out proper consultation with higher education commission and education departments. Furthermore, similar programs are not run by political parties in other countries. Education institutions are responsible to bring transparency and merit. I am sure that if the educationist were involved in the process then this program or a total different program could have give better and long term benefits. A big portion of the money and resources lost on political gains.
@Saad Siddique : I too have the same question. Can anyone please get me a Dell laptop with those specifications for Rs. 25,000.00. I have some urgent requirement. At Rs. 25K I'll definitely make Millions in profit.
is there anythng u cant do on your PC, tht u required a laptop to do it. Just a waste of huge amount of money, jst for the political purposes. Jst think, if those Rs 1.25 billion were invested for some industry, for some factories in creating employment, or for education in giving funds to needy student, will it not be effective. And wht will b the use of these laptops, youtube, and facebook, or they may b sell back in market. Thumbs up to sharif brothers, they dnt need any zardari to destroy their political stance.They are no different then him
@Truth Hurts: First of all plmn needs to be exposed ..they are just trying to play god cop bad cop .. and trying to make people of pakistan stupid by showing their anger towards PPP.. thank God PTI is doing it .. secondly nawaz sharif pays only 5000 in tax but he has all the money to go onto siachen for a photo opportunity .. alas plmn supporters try to defend their corrupt and brainless leadership .. and for dushmani .. nobody does it better than plmn, they can go to any level .. even trying to defame shaukat khanum and personnal attacks on other leaders.
@Asrar Hassan...I swear I laughed unintentionally after reading your kiddish comment...when you order 1 Lakh 25 thousand laptops any company will give all sort of benefits...dual core Processors.???is it worth mentioning here when i3..i5 and i7 processors are the one you should have in the laptops..mentioning of bag is a real dumb thing you have done..even if you by a single laptop from market you will get Laptop bag for free..and here we are talking 1 hundred and 25 thousand laptops here..you dont have any knowledge of IT or specifically the about the latest laptop configurations..again these laptops are of very high price if you consider there specification as when some one order 1 hundred and 25 thousand laptops you get them for very cheap not on the market price..every thing in the laptop configuration is of minimum available specification...from memory to VGA..I dont have the information about the Hard disk's RPM which I guess no one knows here (technical term used for HDD performance) but makes a lot of difference in price when going for minimum RPM for hard disk of same size..so better keep quite if you are a laymen in IT..
just ring a supplier in china or Korea . in bulk they will cast less than 7000.
@Truth Hurts:
"Politics is all about reconciliation and working for common goals of the people" Oh realy! and you are expecting us to beleive that sharif brothers beleifs in the polictics of reconciliation and they are working for common goals of people?...C'mon dude be atleast true to yourself, sharif brothers are merely working for their own goal which is to get back to thrown.
Giving laptops to students is not a bad thing but the intention behind is. Using public money for political compaining of Nawaz Sharif, Greaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat PMLN
During last 23 years in States, I can not recall that university students were give free laptop. Only my country.......PAKISTAN, can do/afford it.
The Sharif's have mostly always 'taken', this concept of 'giving' is proving to be a pain for them.
Brother it is Punjab Politcs not a politics of some Tribal region that you stated that PMLN have started a Dushmani. I think still many supporters of PTI have to learn what type of language they have to use in Politics as perhaps in their regions Political process is a vague term and Dushmanin word is more common to settle disputes.
I hope Dushman daar PTI will settle their disputes other than the land of Punjab. There is enough room to have a dushmani in Karachi or anywhere else but please spare Punjab from this type of Politics. Politics is all about reconciliation and working for common goals of the people but Imran Khan just want all out confrontation od Dushmani with Nawaz for what. Also today Mr Nawaz was in Siachen and where was our beloved Imran Khan. Action speaks Louder than words my brother??
@Truth Hurts: Its because nobody else felt more PAIN than PML-N (especially Ch Nisar) after the 30 Oct Jalsa. It was PML-N which started the DUSHMANI after the Jalsa although IK even hinted at alliance with "ALL" parties before his China visit on the night of 30 Oct.
Allegations on Laptop Scheme & Responses http://tariqvaid.wordpress.com/2012/04/14/allegations-on-110k-laptop-scheme-responses/
Clarifications on Laptop Scheme http://tariqvaid.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/clarifications-on-the-laptop-scheme/
A Comparable laptop in market lat year (Dell is comparatively expensive as its a USA brand, Acre is Taiwanese): http://www.360bin.com/acer-aspire-5742-core-i5-pakistan.html
B The processor used in this laptop was launched by Intel in 2nd quarter of 2011: http://ark.intel.com/products/55627/Intel-Pentium-Processor-B950-(2M-Cache-2_10-GHz)
C. i5 (480M installed in my laptop) which people consider to be the latest was launched in 1st . . quarter of 2011: http://ark.intel.com/products/52952
D. Check out the prices of Targus laptop bag: http://www.360bin.com/laptop-carrying-cases-pakistan/
Giving Laptops to students is a noble idea. It has immense benefit to the students. Criticising for the sake of criticism is not good. Rs.35000/- per piece is also damn cheap. It is direct supply from DELL and so no middlemen and no bribe. The rose petal lawyers are funny people, they never like good things.
http://punjabitlabs.edu.pk/downloads/The%20Bid%20Documents.pdf
details of PUnjab government laptop open tender.
To all pti trolls,its just a freaking writ petition to look into the matter and investigate! not a verdict , at least they are doing some good now its up to the people how they use them.
This petition will fail badly. Both Punjab Government and Dell will sue Mr.Abbas. NO corruption unless DELL is involved. This is how open tenders work.
The processor was latest dual core, 32nm, introduced in Q2 2011. Trolls have no idea of IT. CM bought additional warranty from dell, with a laptop bag. Hahah this is a dumb petition :D will fail badly.
I am against Nawaz Sharif or any Sharif or any Bhutto's pictures in ads that are funded by the Govt.
Shame on PMLN!
You know what, I think it's actually better that these laptops were given. It's not like they were going to be used for the people anyways. It was just going to be robbed.At least some people benefited from it.
The idea of gving free laptops is good, but the intention of PML-N is not good. They are using this as a form of concealed bribery. Laptops in exchange for votes. They don't care whether the laptops are of any use to the students or not.
Ye to hona hi tha...agy agy dekho hota hai kia...
only PTI can end this corruption and can bring CHANGE!