Pay the guard his salary, LHC tells Health Department

The Lahore High Court on Wednesday ordered the Chiniot DCO and Punjab Health Secretary to pay a health department security guard his salary for the last 18 years and submit a compliance report in this regard in the court on February 15.
Justice Khalid Mehmood passed the order after reprimanding the DCO and health secretary for not paying the employees their salaries.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Munir Ahmad, a health department employee posted at Ahmad Nagar Rural Health Center Chiniot, who stated that he had not received his salary for the last 18 years despite his continuous efforts in this regard. The DCO and health secretary were summoned before the court on Wednesday. Answering the judge’s enquiry about the security guard’s salary, the DCO said according to the office records the employee in question had not come for work for a single day.
The judge then asked why the employee had not been sacked after issuing him a show cause notice. The judge remarked that the employee could not be expected to come to work when he was not receiving his salary.
The petitioner’s counsel, Abid Hussain, told the court that Munir and his family were subject to extreme poverty as a result of the non-payment of his salary.
After the previous hearing, the LHC had issued show-cause notices to the Punjab Health Secretary and the Chiniot DCOs after a contempt petition was filed against them by Munir. The petitioner requested the court to initiate contempt proceedings against the officials. The court will resume hearing on 15th Feburary.
LHC bids Justice Ahmed
Farooq farewell: Chief justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and other Lahore High Court judges will give a formal send-off to Justice Ahmed Farooq following his retirement on February. The chief justice asked all the judges to gather at the Judge’s Lounge at 10 30am in full court dress.