ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday issued a stay order against recruitment in the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) till further order.

The court also directed the cabinet division secretary to appear in person on Aug 10 when the petitions related to the layoff in PTDC and appointment of Zulfi Bukhari as its chairman would be heard.

The PTDC has shut down 36 motels and fired up to 450 employees. The government has offered financial assistance package to the laid-off employees, but they have rejected it and a former employee of the PTDC challenged the decision in the IHC.

The second petition related to the appointment of Mr Bukhari and acting managing director PTDC Intikhab Alam was filed by 14 employees of the corporation. The petitioners also questioned the establishment of the National Tourism Coordination Board (NTCB), saying that after devolution of tourism to the provinces, the formation of the tourism board was unconstitutional.

The court on July 10 clubbed these petitions and fixed them for hearing on July 22. However, when hearing in this matter resumed, the court was apprised that the cabinet division had not submitted a reply as yet.

The court expressed displeasure over non-compliance with the order and directed the cabinet secretary to appear on the next date on Aug 10 along with the reply to the petitions.

The petition filed against the appointment of Zulfi Bukhari alleged that “personal friendship of the respondent No 4 (Mr Bukhari) with the prime minister is an open secret. He is less than 40 and currently enjoying multiple influential positions in the federal government setup.

“He has been raised and brought up in the United Kingdom but due to his personal friendship with the prime minister, he was first appointed as special assistant to the prime minister on overseas Pakistanis and human resource development and then made the chairman of NTCB. Later, he was also made the chairman of the PTDC board”.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2020