NEWS IN BRIEF

Published May 29, 2012

Judicial appointments

ISLAMABAD, May 29: Appointments and absorption of judges working on deputation in the session divisions of the federal capital were challenged in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday.

Advocate Mohammad Waqas Malik in his petition cited IHC registrar and the court’s administrative board as respondents.

The registrar office raised some objections on the petition but fixed it for hearing on Wednesday.

The petitioner stated while making the appointments of judges in the subordinate judiciary, the quota was not observed.

He said the appointments of judges in both the session divisions of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) were made by annulling the criteria prescribed in Islamabad High Court Judicial Services Rules-2011.

The petition alleged that the majority of appointments had been made from only one province, whereas the quota of ICT, Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Azad Kashmir and other provinces was grossly neglected. Moreover, the appointments in IHC were also self-explanatory as the postings of 19 officers had been done in violation of the rules. —A Reporter

Family booked in murder case

ISLAMABAD, May 29: The city police have booked a family on the charge of killing their servant.

According to police, on May 24, Mohammad Ramiz, 21, was found hanging from a ceiling fan of an NGO office located in Pakistan Town owned by the family.

Initially, the family told the police that the man had committed suicide.

The NGO owner said he last contacted his servant on the night of May 23 and the following day when he reached the office with his wife, he found the office door locked from inside. They broke into the office and found the victim hanging, he added.

During examination of the body, however, the police found blood stains in the victim’s shalwar.

The body was shifted to hospital for autopsy which showed that he had been subjected to severe torture. The police booked the NGO owner, his mother and wife, but have not made any arrest.

The victim started working with the NGO as helper 10 to 12 days before the incident took place. — Staff Reporter

Drug court

RAWALPINDI, May 29: The District Quality Control Board on Tuesday sent cases against 10 owners of drug stores and clinics to Drug Court for their alleged involvement in sale of medicines without licence or illegal drugs.

Two of the drug store owners would be tried in the court for using veterinary drugs for human beings’ treatment.

The decision to send the cases to the Drug Court was taken during a meeting of the board held here with Executive District Officer (EDO) Health Dr Zafar Iqbal Gondal in the chair. Secretary Board Abid Saeed Baig and other senior health officials were present on the occasion.

The meeting considered total 29 cases against the medical stores and clinics of quacks involved in different violations of drug rules after hearing the concerned parties. It also decided to issue warning to five medical stores.

EDO Health Dr Zafar Iqbal Gondal said the health department had already warned the chemists and medical centres that their licences would be cancelled if the spurious drugs were found from their shops.— A Reporter

Baby deer dies in capital zoo

ISLAMABAD, May 29: A baby deer (Urial) died on Tuesday at Marghazar Zoo and its body was sent to the Veterinary Laboratory at Chak Shahzad for autopsy.

However, the zoo’s management claims that baby Urial was born premature so it could not survive.

According to reliable sources, the death of the animal is being taken seriously by Capital Development Authority (CDA) Chairman Farkhand Iqbal so it was decided to send the animal’s body secretly to the veterinary laboratory.

An officer requesting not to be quoted said: “Veterinary doctor of the zoo put the body in a jute bag and handed over to Arsalan, (an official of zoo). Arsalan and another official went to Chak Shahzad on a motorbike and handed over the body for postmortem”.

“During a period of just one month, a female elephant and a black buck (deer) have died in the zoo. The deaths put a question mark on the competency of the zoo management,” he said

“An animal expert should be given the charge of the zoo but at the moment an officer of administrative cadre has been handling the zoo affairs due to which problems are continuously increasing,” he said.

On contact, Deputy Director Zoo, Dr Saleem Ansari while talking to Dawn said baby Urial was born premature so it could not survive. He said the management was giving proper attention to the animals and following international standards. — A Reporter

College teachers’ attendance

ISLAMABAD, May 29: Minister of Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Nazar Mohammad Gondal during his surprise visit to Postgraduate and Commerce Colleges at Sector H-8 on Tuesday took exception to the absence of majority of teachers and ordered placement of attendance register for them in all the federal colleges.

According to sources, the minister after reaching the college went to the classrooms and found 50 per cent of students and majority of teachers absent.

When he sought an explanation from the principal, he said those who were taking third year classes came to the college and the rest did come but for a while because they had completed their sessions.

The minister showed annoyance and instructed the principal to place a register in the college and make it mandatory that every teacher whether he had class or not should mark his attendance in the register.

A senior professor of the college requesting not to be named said gazetted officers are considered responsible persons and they should not be instructed to mark their attendance in registers.

CADD Federal Secretary Imtiaz Inayat Elahi while talking to Dawn said that he did not see anything wrong in these instructions. — A Reporter

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