Justice Abid Aziz Shaikh of the Lahore High Court has sought a report from the government on a writ petition filed by a former chairman of the National Fertiliser Corporation (NFC) challenging his termination by Caretaker Federal Minister for Industries Shahzada Ahsan Ashraf Shaikh.
The petitioner, Rizwan Mumtaz Ali, through his counsel Hafiz Tariq Nasim, alleged that the minister had sacked him because he had refused to award a contract for the transport of fertiliser to the person of his choice, and had instead awarded it on merit, to the state-owned National Logistics Cell (NLC). Under the deal, reported in the press on May 6, the NLC is to transport urea from ports to various NFC stores across the country.
The petitioner claimed that the caretaker minister had made other “undesirable wishes” of the chairman, which he had refused, upon which the minister unlawfully terminated his services without notice. He submitted an affidavit along with the petition.
After hearing the arguments advanced by the petitioner’s counsel, the court directed a deputy attorney general, representing the government, to get a response from the minister that addressed each point in the petition, and to do so without delay, or the court would issue an ex-parte decision.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 14th, 2013.