The division bench comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi was hearing the petition on Tuesday. Khawja Naveed Ahmed represented the society that runs the institute. He named the honorary secretary of the Arts Council of Pakistan and secretary of culture as respondents. The institute has asked the court to restrain the Arts Council from throwing them out. The court was also asked to direct the Sindh government use its power to “curb the arbitrary actions by the honorary secretary to the detriment of the petitioner society”.
At the outset of the proceedings, the bench asked the institute’s lawyer to establish the maintainability or grounds of the petition. Ahmed submitted that the Arts Council was being funded by the government, the building was also owned by the provincial government and that its elections were supervised by the commissioner (now District Coordination Officer or DCO of Karachi) and therefore the court could hear the petition.
Akhtar Hussain advocate, lawyer for the Arts Council, submitted that it was a private NGO registered under the Societies Act and its funds came from membership fees and donations.
He relied on a recent judgment by the same bench in petitions concerning the affairs of the YMCA and said that the petition was not maintainable as it was an NGO.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 24th, 2010.
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