LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan on Friday summoned the provincial secretary for information and also directed the Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) to submit affidavits about payments of salaries to their workers.

The PBA had filed a petition for recovery of the outstanding payment from the Punjab government against the advertisements run on the private television channels.

Association’s counsel Jam Asif Mahmood contended before the court that the government owed over Rs430m to the channels for a long time. He said the non-payment of the amount had been causing financial problems for the television channels as the majority of them were unable to pay salaries to their workers on time.

A law officer admitted that the payments of the government’s advertisements were payable to various television channels. He sought time to present a report and a formula for the payment.

The chief justice directed the law officer to ensure that the secretary information would appear before the court on the next hearing after clearing the outstanding payments. He also directed the PBA’s counsel to submit affidavits on behalf of the channels about the payment of the salaries to their workers.

CJ Khan observed that the fasting month of Ramazan was also around the corner and the nonpayment of salaries to the media workers would not be tolerated. The hearing was adjourned for a week.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2021