Headed by Justice Nadeem Akhtar, the division bench also restrained the council from receiving back-dated cash payments of fees from these members. The temporary restraining orders came on a petition jointly filed by some members of the Arts Council of Pakistan against alleged illegal memberships ahead of the December 21 elections.
The petitioners, including Muhammad Ashfaq Abadni, said that the incumbent managing body of the arts council was indulging in illegal practices, as it had started issuing fake memberships to increase their votes. They complained that in a recent meeting, the body had decided to award membership to as many as 400 people. The membership has been given with reference to a previous decision of the body and lists of new members has also been approved.
Their lawyer, Badar Alam, said that the respondents have given the membership and are receiving their fees in the back dates, which is a clear violation of the rules. Under the law, a member becomes eligible to cast vote after paying the membership fee six months before the polls.
After preliminary hearing, the two judges issued notices to the provincial chief secretary and the arts council management for December 11 to file their comments.
Till then, the arts council was restrained from receiving any cash payment of fee in back dates. The bench also ordered that all those individuals, who have not paid memberships fees six months prior to the polls, will not be included in the electoral list.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 7th, 2014.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Any one who remain in power for an indefinite period becomes a dictator, so is the case with Ahmed Shah, who after getting him elected for several years on the basis of making hundreds of new members every year use to win the election of President until 2013.
Since according to the rules Ahmed Shah was unable to become President, therefore, Ahmed Shah decided to become the General Secretary leaving the post of his buddy Ejaz Farooqi who became President just for one year i.e. 2014.
Now the election date is around the corner, Ahmed Shah again want to get himself elected for the post of President, he gave membership to hundreds of people in 2014 who were even not qualifying to become member of The Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi.
If we go in the past, the President of Arts Council use to be the serving Commissioner of Karachi, but Ahmed Shah got the post of President, after calling a General Body Meeting few years back and requested all those people to vote for him for the change in constitution of Arts Council Karachi, so that the slot of President should be vacated by Commissioner of Karachi.
The new members who go the membership through the courtesy of Ahmed Shah, the serving General Secretary were vouching the situation for more than five years but could not go against the will of Ahmed Shah just to please him time and again.
The charges framed by Abdul Majeed Abdani in his petition are very less than what exactly is happening in the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi.
According to the inside information, there are several Bank Accounts opened by the President and Secretary of Arts Council Karachi, but the Treasurer have neither ever signed any cheque, nor have ever seen the cheque book in her office under her custody.
If I start narrating every thing, it will take at least 10 pages to cover up the actual story, but in nutshell Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi has become a place for the Members of the Governing Body to mint money like any other corrupt government office.
The need of the hour is Sindh High Court should appoint Nazir who should take all accounts from the President and General Secretary and investigate the matter as where the money has gone which was donated by the Governor of Sindh to Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi for construction of building which is pending for many years.
Further more, the Sindh High Court should declare all amendments made in the constitution of Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi as null and void and hand over the charge of Presidentship back to the Commissioner of Karachi.
Unless the Sindh High Court will not intervene and investigate all charges framed by the Shahr-e-Quaid Panel, the members have no authority to dig out as where the funds have gone.
The election scheduled to be held on December 21, 2014 should be conducted under the supervision of Nazir of Sindh High Court after verification of the eligibility of each and every member/voter whether he or she is a genuine member and is authorised to cast the vote as directed by Sindh High Court, Karachi.
It has become a matter of ego for Ahmed Shah to become President of the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi to mint money, rather than serving the members and to promote the art and culture.
In my opinion, the Sindh High Court should form the governing body of honest members of Arts Council for a period of three years so that no panel should dictate its terms to legitimate members of Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi.