Twice fired: Clerk says PID officers guilty of contempt

Justice Mamoonur Rashid of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday summoned two officers of the Press Information Department (PID) for Thursday (today) on a contempt of court petition.

Zeeshan Tariq, a clerk at the department’s Lahore office, has filed the petition, saying that the Press Information Department ignored an earlier decision of the court, in which his termination notice had been suspended.

According to Tariq, he was hired as a lower division clerk in the department in November 2011.

He claims that after a director general took over in March, he hired, illegally, another clerk in Tariq’s place. Tariq then challenged the new appointment in the Lahore High Court.

The petition was disposed of when the DG assured the court that the notification of Tariq’s termination would be withdrawn.

However, in June a deputy director fired him, he says. Tariq filed a petition challenging his second termination; a matter that he said was decided in his favour — the termination notice was suspended.

On June 21, the deputy director called him to her office and ordered him not to come to the office.

He has prayed that the court initiate contempt proceedings, under Article 204 of the Constitution, against the respondent.

Published In The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2012.