Evacuee Trust Property Board: Official summoned on contempt plea

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has summoned the Evacuee Trust Property Board’s (ETPB) secretary for shrines for July 25 to respond to a contempt petition.  The petitioner, Afaq Ahmed, has accused the ETPB of ignoring court orders for his reinstatement as a deputy director. Ahmed was appointed to a grade 18 post on contract in 2009 to work on a project for the establishment of Baba Guru Nanak University. Petitioner’s counsel Advocate Syeda Maqsooma Bokhari said a federal cabinet committee had in 2011 approved the regularisation of 61 contractual employees at the ETPB, including Ahmed. But the board only regularised four employees and sacked the rest. The terminations were challenged before the Lahore High Court, which found in favour of the sacked employees and directed the board to take them back, she said.  But the board was not reinstating the petitioner to his job in compliance with the order and was therefore committing contempt of court, the counsel said. She sought contempt proceedings against the respondents. Justice Atir Mahmood directed the ETPB shrines secretary to appear in person on July 25 and explain his position in the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2013.