Daily Times

LAHORE: The Lahore Development Authority has a partnership with six companies for its development works.

LDA director general revealed the information during a hearing of corruption charges against former LDA DG Ahad Cheema at the Lahore registry of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

CJP Mian Saqib Nisar had asked him about the process underlying award of contracts for various development works undertaken by the authority. The CJP then summoned details of owners and shareholders of all of those six companies.

Earlier, LDA DG Zahid Akhtar Zaman told the court that Ahad Cheema was at the helm of the authority’s affairs when the contract was awarded for Ashiyana Housing Scheme. Cheema was posted as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Quaid-e-Azam Power Plant when he was recently taken into custody by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over corruption charges.

During the hearing on Saturday, the Chief Secretary of Punjab told the CJP that as per rules governing the service of district management group officers, an officer of Cheema’a rank was entitled to a basic salary of Rs100,000, and Cheema earned Rs15,000,000 as the DG of the LDA. At this, the CJP summoned details of Cheema’s service profile, salary, perks and incentives. During the hearing, the CJP observed that no bureaucrat should boycott offices in protest, referring to the strike of civil servants in Punjab against NAB’s arrest of Cheema. The CJP also said that the accountability watchdog should not harass anyone, adding, however, that those summoned by NAB should appear before the bureau.

“Whoever wants to resign should go home,” the chief justice remarked, in relation to the protesting bureaucrats.

Referring to a recent resolution passed by the provincial assembly of the Punjab, the CJP remarked that perhaps a resolution would now be passed by the assembly against the Supreme Court as well.

Cheema was arrested by the NAB on February 21 in the Ashiana Housing Scheme probe, after which the Punjab bureaucracy went up in arms in solidarity.

The Punjab Assembly, on Feb 28, passed a resolution against NAB’s action against Cheema, terming it a violation of basic human rights.

NAB is probing illegalities and corruption worth billions in a deal between Paragon Housing Society and LDA for the construction of Ashiana Housing Scheme, a low-cost housing project of the Punjab government.

Shehbaz’s images on govt ads: Chief Justice Saqib Nisar directed the Punjab information secretary to immediately submit complete record of distribution of advertisements to media houses. Hearing the suo motu notice of the use of public funds on political campaigns, the chief justice was told that Rs180,000 per minute is the rate at which ads are given to TV channels. The chief justice sought details about the criteria for ads distribution and decision-making mechanisms involved.

Later, the information secretary informed the bench hearing the case that Rs5.5 million was spent on advertisements on 12 TV channels in a day. On the court’s question, the official said that all ads carried an image of the Punjab chief minister.

The chief justice then ordered an explanation on why the chief minister’s picture was published in ads awarded with public funds, observing that this amounted to pre-poll rigging in light of the upcoming general elections.

Hearing a separate case on Feb 28 in Islamabad, Chief Justice Nisar had taken suo motu notice of the ongoing publicity campaigns, at the taxpayer’s expense, by the provinces of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Chicken meat sold in Punjab healthy: Chicken meat available in the markets across Punjab contains hazardous substances, the Supreme Court was told on Saturday.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, was hearing suo motu cases pertaining to sale of contaminated chicken meat, bottled water, and waste disposal at public hospitals of Lahore at the SC’s Lahore registry.

During the court proceedings, a report based on tests of chicken meat available in the markets of Punjab was submitted to the court. In light of the report’s findings, the bench was informed that the meat was not found to be hazardous to human health and no signs of bacterial contamination were found.

PFA DG later told the bench that his department would soon prepare standard operating procedure (SOP) within a month and train its staff to conduct visits to poultry farms across the province.

During an earlier hearing, the CJP had formed a three-member committee to collect samples of chicken feed and undertake tests on it for hazardous substances. The hearing was adjourned till March 9.

On disposal of medical waste at public hospitals of Lahore, the chief justice asked authorities concerned to file a report in 15 days on the outsourcing of waste collection as well as the disposal of medical waste at military-run hospitals. Earlier, lawyer Ayesha Hamid, who is assisting the court in the matter, submitted a report, saying that military hospitals of Lahore had not responded to queries about waste disposal measures at their premises. The chief secretary informed the apex court that since 2011, a private company, Ali Traders Company, was collecting and dumping medical waste from the city’s public hospitals.

The chief justice questioned why the government only became active in resolving the issue when the courts intervened.

Hearing the suo motu notice on sale of substandard bottled water, the SC bench was told by the Punjab Food Authority that there were 1,053 companies selling bottled water in the province. Of these, water samples taken from 340 were found to be not in accordance with safety standards. The hearing was then adjourned until March 8.

Published in Daily Times, March 4^th 2018.