Govt issued notices on Aitchison College admissions policy, board of governors

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court once again issued notices last week to the Punjab government and others for August 27 on a writ petition challenging appointment of the board of governors of Aitchison College and change in the school’s admission policy.

Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza issued the order on a petition filed by Sarah Khan and some former Aitchisonians.

The counsel said the board of governors had not been appointed in accordance with merit.

He said 19 people were appointed to the board, including Dr Sardar Ali Sadiq, son of the National Assembly speaker, Advocate Mustafa Ramday, son of Justice (r) Khalilur Rehman Ramday, Punjab Information Technology Board Chairman Umar Saif, Syed Babar Ali and Dr Pervez Hasan.

He said the board had changed the admission policy of the school and had abolished various quotas. He said kinship had also been abolished. The counsel said under the new policy, chances of admissions for students from other cities had decreased.

He said the policy change was illegal and contrary to the long-standing traditions of the school. He said 75 students had then been admitted in June, of which 47 had failed the entrance test. He said the admission policy was also in conflict with Article 25-A of the Constitution.

The counsel asked the court to annul all decisions of the board and direct the college to revise its K-II lists in accordance with the earlier policy.

The counsel also requested the court to set aside the appointment of the new board members.

Petition against Maryam Nawaz dismissed

Justice Shahid Bilal last week dismissed an application challenging the appointment of Maryam Nawaz as chairperson of the Youth Loan Programme. The petition was fixed before the judge as an objection-case.

The court upheld the objections by the registrar’s office and dismissed the petition.

Petitioner Zubair Niazi said Prime Minister Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif had appointed his daughter Maryam Nawaz as chairperson of the Rs100 billion Youth Loan Programme. He said her appointment had not been made on merit and should be set aside. He asked the court to set aside the notification of her appointment

Court refuses to restrain protestors

Lahore High Court last week upheld an objection by the registrar’s office and refused to hear a petition that sought a restraining order against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Azadi march.

Muhammad Ajmal had filed the petition, saying the long march and the protest sit-were part of a conspiracy to create anarchy in Pakistan.

He said a judicial commission should be constituted to investigate the PTI and the “hidden forces” behind the protest.

The registrar’s office had objected to the maintainability of the petition.

LHC issues stay order against tax notice

Justice Amir Mahmood last week issued a stay order against the tax notice sent to Minhajul Quran for Rs800 million.

Minhajul Quran’s counsel Ali Zafar said that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had sent the institute a notice for Rs800 million and had issued a show cause notice for not submitting the payment.

Zafar said taxes did not apply to Minhajul Quran as it was a charitable institute.

After hearing arguments, the court issued a stay order and ordered the Inland Revenue commissioner to pass a judgment on the appeal.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2014.