The Lahore High Court on Wednesday reserved judgement in a case against former Punjab caretaker chief minister Najam Sethi for allegedly refraining the Punjab Text Book Board (PTBB) from taking part in an open competition for manuscript and textbook publishing.
The petitioner, PTBB General Secretary Akhtar Sherani, through his counsel Hafiz Tariq Nasim, pleaded that Sethi, in his capacity as the chairman of the Pakistan Publishers and Booksellers Association (PPBSA), on June 12, 2012 had submitted an application to then chief minister Shahbaz Sharif that the PTBB be refrained from developing manuscript for its own books but no action had been taken on it when Sethi himself became the caretaker chief minister.
Sethi acted on a similar application from the PPBSA vice chairman on April 14 and restrained the PTTB from working in open competition, providing an edge to private publishers for absolute monopoly.
The counsel further informed the court that earlier, bids were invited through proper advertisements in national newspapers from private publishers and agencies, including the PTBB on open competition.
Nasim argued that it was a clear violation of the established norm that “no one can be a judge of his own cause”.
After hearing detailed arguments from both sides, Justice Ayesha Malik reserved the judgement.