ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice (CJ) Saqib Nisar on Thursday during the proceedings of Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Chairperson appointment case warned Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leader Siddiqul Farooq of initiating contempt of court proceedings against him.
CJ said that incompetent people were appointed as Chairpersons of ETPB. The court had earlier questioned his credentials and ordered dismissal of Farooq as chairperson of ETPB.
Nisar warned Farooq of charging him in contempt of court observing his contemptuous remarks against the Supreme Court.
The chief justice said that the chairperson to be appointed should be from the minorities. He criticised the government’s policy of nepotism, stating that a favourite could still be appointed.
Senior Joint Secretary of Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA) informed the court that he had been given the provisional charge of ETPB chief.
ETPB is a key government department that administers and upkeeps evacuee properties attached to educational, charitable or religious trusts left behind by Hindus and Sikhs who migrated to India at the time of partition. SC on January 31 had ordered removal of Siddiqul Farooq as head of ETPB following the suo moto case of Katas Raj fort. Farooq had challenged SC’s order and filed a review petition.
SC had criticized political appointments by the government, reffering to Farooq’s appointment by former Prime Minister Nawaz Shairf.
Farooq was previously Sharif’s press secretary and was appointed as ETPB head in 2014 after Asif Hashmi had resigned in March 2013. He had also served as Chairman House Building Finance Corporation.