LAHORE, Oct 7: Taking the first legal step towards handling the controversial Punjab Entertainment Company, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Tuesday ordered convening of a meeting of its board of directors, the only authorised forum for the purpose, within two days.

The Punjab PML-N government soon after its inception had declared the company controversial, with some officials pointing out malpractice under the garb of the project.

A supervisory committee, comprising retired officials, MNAs and MPAs, was authorised to decide the fate of the company formed by the last PML-Q government. But with the realisation that this could be done only by the company’s board of directors, the committee too has ceased to exist without reaching a decision.

“The committee has ceased to exist without reaching a consensus on the future of the company during its last tumultuous meeting, with one of its members boycotting without realising the importance of the project,” a senior official told Dawn on Tuesday.

He said the members and some others wanted abolition of the company and ending of its programmes, which include the construction of the IMAX theatre, without heeding the fact that this could render a loss of millions of rupees to the provincial government and could be challenged in courts of law. The matter was finally taken to the chief minister who listened to the reason that the committee, whose members were not even willing to attend its meetings (it had just 50 per cent attendance), should not be allowed to decide the future of the company to avoid legal actions and financial loss.

The committee, the chief minister and others concerned were explained that it would be required to follow a legal procedure to wind up the company and abandoning its projects like IMAX Theatre, video screens and Chinese circus performance. And that would render the province setup a loss of millions of rupees.

“Every committee formed to look into the affairs of the company and every related decision taken by the chief minister or anyone else regarding its affairs is illegal because under the law only its board of directors is authorised to do so. Therefore, we are holding the board meeting to legalise what the government wants to do with the company,” the official claimed.