The section officer of the federal religious affairs department has been summoned by the Peshawar High Court (PHC) for failing to nominate a government employee for Hajj despite his name having come up twice in a draw.
Farhad, an ambulance driver at Police Lines Peshawar, filed a writ petition at the PHC stating that the federal government did not nominate him in the Hajj quota despite his selection in a draw conducted by the department.
On September 7, Farhad’s attorney Fazle-e-Haq Kohidamani informed a PHC division bench that the secretary religious affairs demanded the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) police to hold a draw and send them 50 names from their department, who will be sent to Saudi Arabia as Khadimeen-e-Hujjaj.
Kohidamani said that the draw was held on May 16 and his client’s name was in the list sent to the secretary, but the federal secretary cut down the quota to 15 and asked the provincial police chief to hold another draw.
“Farhad was again shortlisted in the new draw held on May 23, but the secretary did not nominate him,” Kohidamani told the court adding that four people, whose names were not even included in the two draws, were selected.
During the case hearing on Monday, PHC Chief Justice (CJ) Dost Muhammad Khan asked the standing counsel Jamil Warsak why Farhad had not been selected despite his selection in two draws conducted by high-ranking officials.
“Do you remember a minister went to jail over corruption charges in a Hajj scam?” CJ Khan asked. He has summoned the section officer to appear before the court tomorrow (Wednesday).
Published in The Express Tribune, October 9th, 2012.
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