The City District Government on Friday told the Lahore High Court (LHC) that the producer of the movie ‘Dirty Girl’ had not obtained permission from the Pakistan Central Censor Board owing to which the screening of the movie was banned in the city’s cinemas.
This was stated by an official of the Lahore district coordination officer (DCO) who appeared before the court hearing a petition against the ban on screening the movie ‘Dirty Girl’.
Furthermore, he stated that the producers of the movie had obtained permission only from Sindh Censor Board because there was no censor board in Punjab. Earlier, the producer screened his movies after obtaining the permission from both the central and the Sindh censor boards, the official added. He pointed out that seeking permission from the central board was mandatory for screening any movie in Lahore.
Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh recorded the statement of the official and issued a notice to Central Censor Board for reply.
The court will take up the matter on August 23. A cinema owner and the movie’s producer, Qaiser Sanaul Allah, had challenged the ban imposed by the DCO against screening the movie in the city’s cinemas. The petitioner claimed that the censor board earlier approved the movie after which the movie was set to be released on August 14. However, the board and city district government imposed a ban on the screening of the film due to which the producer bore a loss of millions of rupees. He requested the court to declare the ban on the screening as illegal and unlawful.
LHC EXTENDS PRE-ARREST BAIL OF RS 270M GAS THIEF: The Lahore High Court (LHC) extended the pre-arrest bail till August 19 of an accused involved in an Rs 270 million gas theft. A single member bench of the LHC comprising Justice Muzahir Ali Akbar Naqvi resumed the hearing of the case on Friday.
Punjab Prosecutor General Sadaqat Ali Khan told the court that the accused, Anwar, was involved in gas theft worth Rs 270 million and apart from solid proofs in this regard, the culprit had also admitted to his crime. He asked the court to dispose the pre-arrest bail of the accused as the investigation had been completed and Anwar was proved guilty.
However, the accused said that he had already deposited Rs 40 million in national exchequer and should be granted more time to deposit the remaining amount.
The LHC bench extended his pre-arrest bail till Aug 19.
LHC GIVES LDA EXTENSION TO FILE RESPONSE ON ILLEGAL DOONGI GROUND PLAZA: The Lahore High Court on Friday allowed more time to Lahore Development Authority (LDA) to file its reply in response to a petition against the construction of a parking plaza at Gulberg’s Doongi ground in violation of the court’s orders.
Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh passed the orders on the petition moved by Gulberg’s resident Faran Rafique Khan.
The petitioner’s counsel said that all the development and construction work was carried out without permission and approval. He stated that on 16th September 2011, the LHC’s full bench had declared the conversion of the Doongi ground into an IMAX Theater and other allied facilities as illegal.
He claimed that government and its departments had not complied with the directions of the full bench and started the construction.
He pointed out that a contempt of court petition was already pending before the court when the respondents did not pay any heed to the judgment. During pendency of the contempt petition, the respondents had intentionally sped up the construction of a parking plaza at the site and in disregard with the contempt’s proceedings. The counsel contended that the respondents had also disregarded the importance of procuring any report or NOC from the environmental department regarding the construction of a parking plaza in the Doongi ground’s basement. The petitioner requested the court to declare all the construction on the ground or any amendment in the scheme as illegal, without jurisdiction and in violation of the fundamental rights. He also requested the court to take action against those officials involved in putting additional burden on the national kitty due to the project. The court will take up matter on August 29.
LHC TAKES NOTICE OF ACID ATTACK ON WOMAN: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday took notice of news published in a section of the press that stated that a woman burnt with acid by her in-laws had died.
Multan’s District and Sessions (D&S) judge was directed to probe into the matter and submit a detailed report within a week regarding steps taken by the local police, and his own comments on the situation. According to details, Jalalpur Pirwala’s Shamim Bibi, 20, had married Muhammad Yar a year ago. At the time of the marriage, her parents had promised to get their son married to Yar’s sister. However, after a few months, they backed out of the commitment after which Yar’s parents and brother-in-law Din Muhammad started pressing Shamim to convince her parents, beating her up several times due to which she returned to her parents’ house.
Later, his mother and Din visited Shamim’s parents’ house to take her back but the latter refused. An hour later, Din revisited the house and threw acid at Shamim and then ran away. Shamim succumbed to her injuries the next day in a hospital. The police registered a case and also arrested the accused.
SIX AD&SJS TRANSFERRED: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday issued the posting and transfer orders of six additional district and sessions judges (AD&SJ)’s. According to an LHC notification, the transferred AD&SJ’s include Muhammad Sajid Ali, who has been transferred from Bahawalpur to Sargodha, Syed Muzaffar Ali Shah from Lahore to Bahawalpur, Humaira-tuz-Zahra from Bahawalpur to Multan, Ghulam Abbas from Multan to Lahore, Muhammad Zafar Iqbal from Bhalwal to Haroonabad and Muhammad Saeed Ullah from Haroonabad to Bhalwal.
Additionally, the LHC also posted two officials on their appointment via promotion as Sessions Courts superintendents (BS-16) with immediate effect. The officials were Saif Ullah and Abdul Razzaq, who have been transferred from Lahore to Sialkot and Bahawalnagar to Narowal respectively.