PHC maintains stay order over artistes’ honoraria

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday maintained stay order in a case about the provincial government's honorarium to 500 artistes in a writ petition that had challenged the award of stipends allegedly to undeserving people.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Afsar Shah and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim extended the stay order and fixed the case for today.

During the hearing, Justice Syed Afsar Shah observed that the case was of much importance but it was adjourned due to lawyers strike. Bibi Saeeda and 39 other television and stage artistes along with singers and producers have challenged the monthly honoraria approved for 500 artistes, poets and writers of the province. Syed Akhtar Durrani advocate is representing petitioners in the case.

The petitioners' claimed that the list provided for award of honorarium was not prepared transparently and irrelevant people were included in it. They submitted that they deserved the honorarium but were ignored. The petitioners contended that a committee was formed by the director Culture to finalise the list of names who will receive the award. But the committee allegedly violated the terms and conditions listed in the advertisement, the petition said.

The petition mentioned that one of the members of the committee, Laiq Zada Laiq, left the committee after he came to know that the stipend was being awarded to unrelated people and genuine artistes were ignored.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had started paying Rs30,000 per month each as a stipend to 500 talented artistes and singers of the province for a year. However, the petitioners claimed that a fake list of 500 artists was prepared. They alleged that the honorarium was given even to foreigners, mostly Afghan artistes, who were not entitled under the listed criteria. It was also brought into the notice of the court that genuine artistes were suffering and leading a miserable life.

The petitioners requested the court to direct the government to prepare a new list, which should have the names of those artistes who have served the culture of the province in a real sense.