Government given last chance to repay Punjab University for ‘political event’

LHC directs CDGL to submit proof of payment on July 25.

LAHORE:

Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial of the Lahore High Court has given the city government a final chance to repay the Punjab University Rs16 million that was spent on a ceremony for the distribution of laptops among bright students by the chief minister.

A law officer submitted on Wednesday that the city government had reimbursed the PU, but he did not have documentary proof of this. The chief justice directed him to produce such proof of payment at the next hearing on July 25.

Petitioner Nazir Ahmad, through his counsel Aftab Bajwa, said that the university paid for the event even though the LHC had ordered it not to. He said that the city government was yet to repay the amount. Bajwa said that the bureaucracy was using delaying tactics.

“The use of the education budget on administrative work will not be allowed,” the chief justice observed and adjourned the hearing.

The petitioner had submitted that PU Vice Chancellor Prof Mujahid Kamran had sanctioned a supplementary grant of Rs30 million to pay for the ceremony without the permission of the PU Syndicate. He said that Rs5.8 million was spent just on refreshments.

He said that Prof Kamran arranged the event as a quid pro quo to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who had made him vice chancellor. He noted that the chief minister and PML-N President Nawaz Sharif were chief guests at the event. Banners bearing pictures of the Sharif brothers were put up on campus.

The petitioner had asked the court to cancel the ceremony, order an inquiry and take disciplinary action. He had suggested that the vice chancellor would embezzle the funds.

The court had on March 22 directed the university not to use its funds for the ceremony, which was held the next day.

On April 12, a lawyer representing the Punjab government told the court that the city government would repay the university Rs10.61 million. Bajwa had objected, asking why the city government should pay for an event that aimed to give publicity to a particular political party. He said the PML-N leaders had delivered political speeches at the ceremony. The computers could have been given to the students “without the political drama”, he said.

At this the judge had remarked that after the government reimbursed the money, the court would examine which law allowed the city government to pay for the ceremony. He had also ordered the city government to repay the amount before the new budget was passed by the Punjab Assembly.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 12^th, 2012.