LAHORE:
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday disposed of a petition challenging the use of Punjab University funds to pay for a ceremony at which the chief minister distributed free laptops to bright students, after the university said it had been reimbursed by the Punjab government.
Petitioner Nazir Ahmad, through counsel Aftab Bajwa, had submitted that PU Vice Chancellor Prof Mujahid Kamran had sanctioned a supplementary grant for the ceremony without authorisation from the PU Syndicate. The petitioner said that the ceremony was a political event, while the university’s funds were meant for educational purposes. He asked the court to direct the government to reimburse the university. Appearing before the LHC chief justice on Wednesday, the PU counsel said that the government had given the university Rs8.7 million.
Appointment of Wattoo’s son-in-law challenged
The Lahore High Court on Wednesday sought a reply from the federal government by September 27 to a petition challenging the appointment of the vice chairman of the Pakistan Central Cotton Committee on grounds of nepotism.
The petitioner, Advocate Javed Rashid, has alleged that Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo used his influence to get his son-in-law Shahzad Ali Khan appointed to the post. He said that Khan did not have any relevant experience.
He submitted that the appointment had deprived several eligible candidate of an opportunity to get the job. He said the appointment should be declared illegal and set aside.
The court directed the federal government, through the ministry concerned, to reply to the petition by the next hearing. Our Correspondent
LHC tells SNGPL to catch officials too
Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) should go after its own officials who facilitate gas theft and not just consumers, observed Justice Khalid Mehmood Khan of the Lahore High Court (LHC) as he granted bail to a man accused of gas theft on Wednesday.
The judge said that a consumer planning to steal gas from the company could not do so unless officials were complicit. He was hearing a bail application moved by Muhammad Yaqoob, who is accused of gas theft.
Yaqoob said he was innocent. He said that SNGPL staff visited his shop after he failed to pay his gas bills and arrested him.
He said they had a false case registered against him at Baghbanpura police station. The SNGPL’s lawyer said that groups of gas thieves had made holes in the main pipelines and were siphoning off gas from the main supply.
He said that an SNGPL taskforce had caught Yaqoob red-handed stealing gas. He urged the court not to release Yaqoob.
The court granted him bail for Rs50,000.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 30th, 2012.
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