LHC seeks reply on PTV’s secret deal

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday sought reply from the federal information secretary and the Pakistan Television (PTV) managing director (MD) on a petition challenging the expected secret deal between PTV and an Indian media giant.
Mian Aslam filed the petition based on media reports. He presented the published news item in his petition stating that PTV had finalised a joint venture with an Indian TV channel and at the initial level, the deal amounted to $35 to 45 million. He said that it was a very dubious and questionable move on part of the respondents. Aslam submitted that in the first part of this understanding, PTV agreed to facilitate the Indian media group to acquire exclusive rights through a famous sports channel.
The petitioner, through their counsel, Saeed Zafar added that Pakistani cricketers were not allowed to participate in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and all Pakistani channels were also not allowed coverage. He said that PTV MD Yousaf Baig Mirza had been an employee of the same Indian media group. Aslam said that the constitution did not permit such breach of misconduct on part of the MD. The petitioner requested the court to stop the joint venture before a final judgment on the petition. He also requested the court to replace the PTV MD.
— issues notice on the usage of ‘My Lord’ : Lahore High Court Justice Azmat Saeed on Thursday issued notices to law officers of the federal and provincial governments for assistance on a petition against using “My Lord” for addressing judges during court proceedings.
The LHC’s senior-most judge, Justice Azmat Saeed, agreed with the petitioner’s counsel that calling judges “My Lord” in courts was fundamentally wrong, reflected a slavish mind set and was against the basic teachings of Islam.
The petition was filed by Syed Faroze Shah Gillani, through AK Dogar, submitted that it was a legacy of the British Rajand should be replaced with ‘Sir’, ‘Jinab-e-Wala’ or ‘Janab-e-Aali’.
The petitioner said steps needed to be taken to replace the term in order to protected lawyers and others from humiliation. Moreover, use of such words was a violation of article 14 of the constitution, which clearly declares that the Dignity of Man was fundamental right of every citizen. He added that in the US, no judge was addressed as ‘My Lord’.
Dogar submitted that as far back as November 6, 1980, president’s order No15/1980 was promulgated by then president of Pakistan in pursuance of a meeting attended by chief justices of superior courts in June 1979 which suggested discontinuing the word’s usage in courts.
He said the president’s order being printed in the PLD 1981 central statute 231 reads, “Mode of address: the use of the expressions ‘My Lord’ and ‘Your Lordship’ and the like, in relation to a judge shall be discontinued and he (judge) shall only be addressed as Sir, Jinab-eWala or Janab-e-Aali, or referred to in judgments, correspondence or other instruments as ‘Mr Justice’ so and so or the like”.
He prayed the court abolish the use of ‘My Lord’ in courts for judges by passing directions for implementation of the president’s order No 15 of 1980 and uphold the teachings of Islamic, which do not allow a man to be addressed thus.
Sacking of SWM employees subject to Salik’s petition: Lahore High Court (LHC) Judge Azmat Saeed held that dismissal of Solid Waste Management (SWM) workers from service will be subject to the decision of a petition filed by minority leader J. Salik, defending of rights of the Christian workers on Thursday.
The judge passed the order on the petition which said over 300 workers, most of them from the Christian community, had been sacked since the City District Government Lahore (CDGL) SWM department was privatised by the government. The court decided that the workers’ termination would be reverted if Salik’s petition was granted.
Through his counsel, Salik questioned the conversion of SWM department into a private company Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) that had created job insecurities among the employees as they had been sacked due to the whims of their immediate bosses. The petitioner said at the privatisation of SWM did not account for workers who had been rendered jobless due to the initiative. The petitioner said the SWM privatisation was a violation of labour laws and of the local government ordinance. He prayed that the court sets aside the conversion of SWM to LWMC to ensure that workers had jobs. The court issued a notice to the Punjab government and LWMC directing them to reply to the petition within two weeks.
LHC issues notices to 18
medical colleges, universities: A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Thursday issued notices to 18 medical universities and colleges on a petition challenging the requirement of entry tests for admission in medical colleges of Punjab.
The bench, comprising Justices Shahid Saeed and Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan heard the petition filed by Muhammad Zubair and others, through Muhammad Azhar Siddique. At the previous hearing, the court had sought reply from the respondents, including University of Health Sciences’ (UHS) and the federal and provincial governments. Neither representative nor reply came from federal government. The court took a serious note of absence of the deputy attorney general and ordered him to appear in court at the next hearing. However, the UHS counsel appearing in court sought time to file the reply.
The petitioner’s counsel objected to the request, and said the process for entry tests and admission would end on October 30. However, the bench adjourned the matter till October 24 and issued notices to respondent medical universities and colleges, and directed the UHS counsel to file reply by next date of hearing, with an advance copy to the petitioners’ counsel.