Religious Affairs secretary issued show cause notice for contempt of court
Lahore High Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Wednesday issued a show cause notice to Religious Affairs Joint Secretary Ministry Hafiz Sher Ali for using derogatory remarks about courts in a reply after keeping him in court custody for a short time. The chief justice directed the secretary to file reply of show-cause notice till July 9. The CJ also ordered to exclude the names of companies from Haj Group Organisers’ (HGO) list who were tax defaulters.
The chief justice passed the orders on a contempt petition filed by Ashfaq Ahmad Mirza and others against offi- cials of Religious Ministry for not allotting Haj quota to new HGOs despite the court orders.
As the proceedings started, the petitioner’s counsel through a civil miscellaneous application pleaded the court to form a commission for distributing Haj quota as Religious Affairs Ministry had failed to perform his duties. Deputy Attorney General Naseem Kashmiri submitted a reply before the court on behalf of Ali in the matter. However, the court took strict notice of derogatory remarks about courts in the reply and reprimanded the joint secretary who was present in the court. The CJ ordered to take the joint secretary in custody.
The court was also told that many assesses approached the income Tax department for payment of their dues.
A security and exchange commission representative informed the court that many companies approached them also.
The State Bank of Pakistan through a report told the court that five existing Haj group Organisers were bank defaulters.
The CJ after hearing the arguments of all parties dismissed the application filed by the petitioner for formation of a commission for distributing Haj quota.
The CJ ordering release of joint secretary issued a show cause notice to him for using derogatory remarks about judiciary and sought reply till July 9.
The petitioners, in their petition, submitted that the court ordered religious ministry to allot a quota of 5,000 pilgrims to new Haj group Organizers (HGOs) and complete the process by June 18.