ISLAMABAD-The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Tuesday summoned the Attorney General of Pakistan in various petitions challenging the appointment of Naeem Bukhari as Chairman Pakistan Television (PTV) board and acting managing director of the state-run television.
A single bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Athar Minallah conducted hearing of the petitions of a citizen Arsalan Farrukh through his counsel Raja Muhammad Shakeel Abbasi Advocate and others.
The court also directed the Ministry of Information to appoint an authorised officer in this matter on the next hearing and deferred the proceedings till January 14.
During the hearing, Justice Athar said that how can you make such appointment in presence of very clear judgment of the Supreme Court in this connection. He remarked that prima facie, the appointment of Bukhari seems to be violation of the verdict of apex court.
The IHC CJ further said that in this regard, the decision of Supreme Court is very clear and it must be implemented. He added that Bukhari is respectable for them but they cannot ignore the SC judgment.
Bukhari’s counsel adopted that as per companies ordinance, the board of directors of PTV has appointment Bukhari as Chairman.
The bench asked the counsel to read the SC decision and said that the age limit is also mentioned in it. Then Bukhari’s lawyer sought some time to check the record. He said that after the first summary, another summary was also sent to the Cabinet for his appointment. At this, the bench deferred the hearing after giving aforementioned directions. The petitioner stated in the petition that Bukhari’s appointment was not according to the guidelines set by the Supreme Court.
Petitioner’s counsel told the court that the position was not advertised in any newspaper, which is mandatory. He added that Naeem Bukhari is also over 65 years.
The petitioner’s counsel also cited Supreme Court’s Judgment in Ataul Haq Qasmi’s appointment as director and chairman of PTV for reference.
The petitioner had also challenged the appointment of two board members Syed Asghar Nadeem and Wasim Raza along with Bukhari.
On November 24, the information ministry sent out notification of Bukhari’s appointment as a PTV board member and the director of the state-run channel. The notification further stated that the government has also approved the nomination of Naeem Bukhari as the Pakistan Television Corporation (PTVC) Board Chairman in line with the Pakistan Television Corporation’s Memorandum and Articles of Association (Article 95 / 95A).
The petitioner termed the appointment of Naeem Bokhari in violation of various verdicts of the Supreme Court and the IHC which laid down clear guidelines for such appointments.
He pointed out that contrary to the direction of the apex court, the vacancy has not been advertised in the press and the appointment has been made without inviting applications for the vacant position.
He said that the federal cabinet had relaxed the upper age limit for 65-year-old Bokhari, without mentioning plausible reason in the minutes of the federal cabinet meeting.