LAHORE – Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Wednesday sought from the sCity District Government Lahore (CDGL) the copy of cheque of the payment made to the Punjab University for the laptop distribution ceremony chaired by PML-N President Nawaz Sharif.
A provincial law officer told the court that the CDGL had reimbursed the expenses incurred on the laptop distribution ceremony. The payment of Rs870,000 was made to the university. The laptops were distributed among the students without any discrimination and political consideration, the law officer pleaded.
The chief justice was hearing a petition against the laptop distribution ceremony held in the Punjab University with the expenses of the varsity. The CJ adjourned further hearing until August 7 and directed the law officer to present a copy of the cheque of the payment made to the Punjab University.
Nazir Ahmad through counsel Aftab Bajwa had challenged the expenditure paid by the University for the ceremony. Petitioner submitted that Vice Chancellor Dr Mujahid Kamran sanctioned a supplementary grant of Rs30 million on account of arranging a laptop distribution ceremony without permission of PU syndicate.
The VC arranged the function to oblige Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and PML-N President Nawaz Sharif by inviting them as chief guest, said petitioner adding that a number of halls were available for the said function but the VC selected Quaid-i-Azam Campus to oblige Shahbaz Sharif as he had selected him as VC again.
He requested for directions for cancellation of the ceremony and order to hold it in an open ground, and departmental action against the responsible.
Meanwhile, the Chief Justice on Wednesday gave last opportunity to PML-N MNA Rao Mazhar Hayat to provide evidence about the genuineness of his graduation degree obtained from a US university.
Citizens Irshad Ibrahim and Javed Badr filed a petition stating that Hayat contested the general election in 2008 from constituency of NA-138, Kasur.
Petitioners said Hayat claimed that he had obtained a degree from Wenoira University, USA. They alleged that the said university had not verified the degree of the MNA when Higher Education Commission had asked it to verify the same.
After hearing the arguments, the chief justice adjourned further hearing until Sept 23 and asked the counsel to come up concrete arguments in favour of the respondent’s degree.
PASSPORT SCAM: Judicial Magistrate Imran Shafi on Wednesday gave three-day physical remand to Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) of four accused allegedly involved in the passport scam that tarnished the country’s image abroad.
The FIA produced four accused including Asif, Syed Wasif, Mukhtar and Wasim before the court of the judicial magistrate and contended that the scam tarnished the image of the country and it should be thoroughly probed. The agency also requested the court to award physical remand of the accused for further investigations.
The counsel for the accused, however, said none of the four accused was nominated in the FIR, adding the bigwigs were involved in the scam and the agency wanted to save them at the cost of his clients. The counsel requested the court to reject the plea for physical remand of the accused. However, the court on hearing the two sides gave three accused to the FIA.