Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Tuesday ordered BOL TV owners to deposit Rs100 million to pay the dues of its former and present employees.
CJP Nisar was hearing the case in Supreme Court’s (SC) Karachi registry.
The court also summoned Shoaib Shaikh with the affidavit. The hearing in the case involving non-payment of dues of BOL TV employees has been postponed.
Former employee of BOL TV Usman Arai informed that the dues of 192 former employees have not been paid while many employees were laid off.
Nabil Zafar, Faisal Aziz and Nazir Leghari appeared on behalf of BOL administration.
“Your Shoaib Shaikh does not appear and when he comes he starts delivering long speeches. If you cannot pay the dues of the employees then BOL should be shut down,” the CJP said.
The BOL administration said, “We have paid the dues and also submitted an undertaking.” They also said that the property papers have been submitted in Islamabad and this is an issue of “our rating”.
The CJP remarked that the rating issue will be seen later. “First, pay the salaries of your employees,” he said.
The CJP said that the affidavit was on the name of Khawaja Ijaz and asked for the affidavit of Shoaib Shaikh. The BOL administration said that his affidavit will be submitted. The CJP ordered Shoaib Shaikh’s affidavit to be submitted and for Rs100 million to be deposited by Wednesday or else Shoaib Shaikh should prepare for the jail.
The BOL administration said that issues are being faced and difficulties are also being encountered in other channels. “Open the second channel later and first pay the employees of the channel their salaries,” the CJP said.
The SC has summoned a file for keeping documents as surety. He ordered that Rs100 million should be deposited and the property was not acceptable.
The court has also summoned Shoaib Shaikh with an affidavit. “He sells degrees. He should have paid his employees rights first,” the CJP remarked.
