LAHORE, Dec 31: Three district nazims on Wednesday served through their counsel legal notices on Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and five other officials of his government for allegedly running a ‘mala fide’ media campaign, levelling allegations of corruption against them.

The officials are Local Government Minister Dost Muhammad Khosa, Chief Secretary Javed Mahmood, Local Government Secretary Suhail Aamir, Information Secretary (acting) Nadeem Hasan Asif and Director-General Public Relations Mohyuddin Wani.

The notices were served by lawyer Mubeenuddin Qazi on behalf of Attock Nazim Tahir Sadiq (a retired major), Gujrat Nazim Chaudhry Shafaat Husain and Mandi Bahauddin Nazim Asghar Chaudhry.

The notices required of the chief minister and his team members to individually and jointly tender an unconditional apology and have it published in all the newspapers carrying advertisements against the nazims, also seeking an undertaking that such acts would not be repeated. They are also required to pay each of the nazims individually and jointly Rs1 billion.

“If this is not done within seven working days, the nazims will be at liberty to initiate appropriate legal proceedings against the chief minister and the officials for the recovery of damages,” said the notices. They added: “The mala fide conduct and illegal acts of the chief minister and the officials do not fall within the purview of exercise of powers and performance of functions of their respective offices. Therefore, the same can be judicially reviewed and immunity under law and constitution is not attracted.”

According to the notice to the chief minister and the local government minister, they have politically victimised the nazims to advance “personal and political agenda” by illegally launching a defamatory media campaign through regular interviews, press conferences, public notices and statements.“The latest episode of this mala fide campaign is the publication of large-size public notices with misleading allegations of corruption of grave nature, which appeared on front pages of almost all the leading English and Urdu dailies on Dec 28, 2008,” the notice said, charging the provincial higher-ups with giving a false impression that the nazims had committed massive fraudulent expenditure. And they had done it despite knowing that audit report was only a routine matter, it added.

“The audit paras of the previous regimes of your own political party are still outstanding and have not yet been settled. Therefore, it will not be out of place to mention here that you were/are also fully aware that such allegations against my clients and other district nazims are quite premature at this stage, as the ex-parte audit and thereupon prepared audit reports are yet to be placed before the accounts committees and district councils as required under the Punjab Local Government Ordinance of 2001, and the Punjab Local Government (Accounts) Rules of 2008.”

“No such responsibility could be fixed on the district nazims, in any manner whatsoever, even after completion of inquiry.”

The legal notice also accused the provincial head and the LG minister of patronising, strengthening and rewarding the government officers with higher and more prestigious portfolios while politically victimising and defaming the nazims – the elected representatives of the public.

The notice to the chief secretary and other three officials said they had been launching the campaign against nazims at the behest of the chief minister and the local government minister.