Contempt Appeal

IN THE LAHORE HIGH COURT, MULTAN BENCH, MULTAN.

Criminal Original No. 208-W/2002 In W.P. No. 740/1999

H. M. Sharif etc.

Vs.

Nazir Muhammad Cheema etc.

Application under section 4 of Contempt of Court Act, 1998. Parawise Comments on behalf of respondents No. 2 & 3. Respondents No. 2 & 3 respectfully submit their parawise comments as under: Preliminary Objections: 1. That the applicants malafidely and just to harass the respondents have made them as party in this criminal original. Therefore, the application is not maintainable. 2. That answering respondents were not party in the above titled writ petition. Furthermore, they are not empowered to implement any kind of the order given by any authority. The duties and functions of the answering respondents are as under: a)

The respondent No. 2 was not in the service of the defunct Zila Council. He has been appointed as D.O. Account of the District Government on contract. His function is only to look after and deal with the accounts of the District Government.

b)

The respondent No. 3 is representative of the Local Fund Audit, Punjab. He was posted in the defunct Zila Council and now he is working in the District Government according to Rule 7 of the Punjab Local Councils (Audit) Rules 1981.

“Function of Audit—The function of audit shall be to verify the accuracy and completeness of the accounts” Therefore, his duties are to audit the record of the department and point out discrepancies committed by the Department. From what has been explained above, it has become clear that answering respondents are neither empowered

nor

authorized

to

do

anything

independently or implement any order of competent authority. 3. That so far as District Council, “it was not existed in the Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 1979. In rural areas, Zila Council and in urban areas Municipal Corporation, Municipal Committee and Town Committee were established by the said Ordinance. Now the Government has replaced the said Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 1979 with the Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 2001. Under the present law, the whole system has been changed totally. Now, under the new law, the District Assembly has been given the name of Zila Council and its function is only to hold meeting of District Assembly and make rules,

budget

etc.

of

the

District

Government.

The applicants have not made parties properly. The application is not maintainable and liable to be dismissed. 4. That the applicants have made the answering respondents as party just to harass and to pressurize them therefore, the application is not maintainable and the answering respondents are entitled to get special costs from the applicants. 5. That the applicants should make proper person as party. ON FACTS: 1.

That para No. 1 of the application is correct to the extent of the orders of the Hon’ble High Court. Rest of the para as stated is not correct and not admitted. The Punjab Government has repealed the Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 1979 and implemented the Punjab Local

Government Ordinance, 2001 from 13.8.2001. The Hon’ble High Court has ordered that the applicants be given the scale of 220-15-325/15-400. Since their duty of defunct Zila Council Multan, the scale was not existed. Therefore, the Administration of defunct Zila Council Multan referred the case to the Secretary Local Government and Rural Development Lahore and requested that the existing posts of Assistant Medical Officers may be converted to the posts of Medical Technician in the Schedule of Establishment of Zila Council in the pay scale of Rs. 220-15-325/15-400 from the dates of their appointments to implement the order of the Hon’ble High Court. Therefore, a letter No. SO-IV(LG)4-5/91-P dated Lahore the 9th October 2002, issued by the Section Officer was received on 13.10.2000. In this letter, the Secretary Local Government has not accorded sanction of the change in the Schedule of Establishment. The letter was not clear and it was not issued under the direction of Competent Authority. Now, at the observation of the Assistant Director Audit, the Zila Nazim again referred the case to the Secretary Local Government and sought the clarification of Memo No. SOIV (LG)4-3/91 dated 9.10.2002, whether it is to be construed as sanction of the requisite

modification

in

Zila

Council

Schedule

of

Establishment of 1965 by the Competent Authority i.e. the Government. The copy of letter No. 4775 dated 25.8.2000 from the Administrator Zila Council to the Secretary Lahore is Annex “R/1”. Memo SOIV(LG)4-3/91-P dated Lahore the 9th October 2000 is Annex “R/2”. Observation of Assistant Director Audit No. 853 dated 15.11.2001 is Annex “R/3”. Letter No. 253 dated 8.1.2002 from the District Nazim Multan to the Secretary Local Government is Annex “R/4”. 2.

That the para No. 2 of the application is not correct and not admitted.

GROUNDS a)

That the sub para of para No. 2 is correct to the extent that it is the duty of every person working in relation to Federal or Provincial to obey and comply with the direction and orders of the Hon’ble Court. The rest of the para as stated is not correct and not admitted. The answering respondents are law-abiding persons and they respect and obey the Hon’ble Court and their orders and direction. They cannot even think about the disobedience of any kind of direction and order of the Hon’ble High Court or any courts of Pakistan. The detailed answer has been given in the above paras.

b) That sub para (b) of the para No. 2 of the application is correct to the extent of the order of the Hon’ble High Court. Rest of the para as stated is not correct and not admitted. The detailed answer has been given in the above paras. The prayer clause of the application is not correct, the application is not maintainable and the same may graciously be dismissed with costs throughout and special costs may very graciously be awarded. Respondents, Dated: _________ Through: Syed Muhammad Afaaq Shah, Advocate High Court, 93-District Courts, Multan.