Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Thursday accepted an appeal filed by seven former LHC employees for regular hearing.
Former LHC drivers, Muhammad Rasheed, Ghulam Mustafa, Riaz Ahmad, Irfan Ahmed, Muhammad Hakim, Muhammad Bakhsh and Shabir Hussain, had challenged the court’s decision to dismiss them from service a few months ago. The judicial registrar had objected to the appeal but the judge overruled the objection after hearing arguments of the petitioners’ counsel.
LHC summons Punjab food secretary on contempt plea: A division bench of the Lahore High Court summoned on Thursday the Punjab Food Department secretary for August 29 over the department’s failure to pay Rs 100 million to its material/goods suppliers despite the court’s orders. The bench comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Syed Kazim Raza Shamsi was hearing a contempt petition filed against the provincial food department by Rasheed & Sons and others seeking payment of Rs 100 million for goods supplied to the department.
Earlier, the court had ordered the department to pay Rs 35 million as first instalment and then the remaining amount. But the department defied the court order and did not even pay the first instalment to the plaintiffs. Therefore, the petitioners moved a contempt plea seeking action on violation of the court order. On Thursday, a provincial law officer sought time for payment but the court rejected the request and ordered the food secretary to appear in the court on August 29 for explanation.
