Lahore: Alleged prostitution of policewomen: LHC calls detailed report in two days

[Naveed Yaseen]

* Court dismisses no-confidence motion against Ravi Town nazim
* LHC tells PTCL to improve services in five weeks

Staff Report

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Khawaja Muhammad Sharif has directed the Lahore Operations senior superintendent of police (SSP) to submit a comprehensive report within two days about the alleged involvement of some female police officials in prostitution.

On Monday, the SSP informed the court that three police officials had been suspended while one was given a show cause notice for their alleged involvement in prostitution. He said Coordination SP Imran Arshad was investigating the case.

The CJ directed the SSP to prepare a comprehensive report after conducting a fair and transparent investigation.

The CJ had taken suo motu notice of a news item appearing in a section of the press that some female police officials were allegedly involved in prostitution under the supervision of senior police officers.

Disposed: LHC Justice Kazim Malik disposed of the petition challenging a no-confidence motion against Ravi Town Nazim Yousaf Ahad Malik.

The judge observed that the house would vote on the motion on May 23 in any case, whether Malik returned from abroad or not. The judge also held Malik would lose his right to defend himself if he did not return until 3pm on May 23, adding that a legal proceeding could not be delayed inordinately. The judge made these observations after hearing the arguments from both sides on a petition moved by Ayesha Butt, a councilor of the same town.

The petitioner’s counsel, Fawad Chaudhry, said the Ravi Town nazim was out of the country and Naib Nazim Abid Mustafa, with mala fide intention, called the house meeting to discuss a no-confidence motion against him (the nazim).

He said all the proceedings in the absence of the town nazim were illegal and liable to be set aside. As an interim relief, he prayed to the court to stay the proceedings on the no-confidence motion.

Rana Asadullah Khan, appearing on behalf of the naib nazim, opposed the petition. He submitted the nazim was leading the town administration without meeting legal requirements, so he should be disqualified.

Five weeks: A division bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday and Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, on Monday gave the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) five weeks to improve its services.

The bench had taken suo motu notice of the poor service of the company on an article appearing in a section of the press.

On Monday, PTCL Chief Technical Officer Muhammad Nasrullah and the PTCL Lahore regional manager appeared before the court. Both took the defence that the main problem with the company was load shedding. They said that makeshift arrangements in the form of batteries were made, but those proved to be insufficient.

The bench observed this was the height of negligence on part of the PTCL. It said load shedding had been going on for several years, but the PTCL had not made necessary arrangements to cope with the problem. Nasrullah sought four weeks to improve the service. However, the bench gave five weeks to the company remove all difficulties after which no excuse would be accepted.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg13_1