MULTAN, Nov 25: Punjab Election Authority chairman Justice Naseem Sikandar has served a show cause notice on the Multan district nazim on a reference seeking his removal from the post.

PML-N MPA Babu Nafees Ahmed Ansari had filed a reference with the chief election commissioner under Section 152 of the Punjab Local Government Ordinance against district nazim Mian Faisal Mukhtar.

In his reference, he submitted that the Fatima Group of Industries could not pay the surety amount of Rs35 billion to the government and was a defaulter. He said district nazim Faisal Mukhtar being one of its directors was also a defaulter according to the law and incompetent for the post.

He said the nazim had submitted false abstracts of his accounts which was also illegal.

In his reference, Mr Ansari submitted that the federal industries secretary had prepared a summary for the Economic Coordination Committee chairman in which he said that the Fatima group and Arif Habib group violated the gas supply agreement for their urea plant in Sadiqabad and paid only Rs12 billion out of Rs35 billion.

The petitioner requested immediate removal of Mian Faisal Mukhtar from the district nazim slot according to the Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 2001.

The election authority chairman has ordered the nazim to submit his paragraph-wise answer within a fortnight. — Correspondent