LHC suspends appointment of LDA director

Lahore: The Lahore High court on Thursday suspended the appointment of Shakeel Bhatii as director (admin) of Lahore Development Authority and sought details of all officers posted in LDA on deputation from Services & General Administration(S&GAD).

The court also directed the LDA to provide the list of all the officers posted in LDA against higher posts in their own pay scale. Muhammad Akbar Nakai filed the petition pleading that he was working as LDA director(admin), a BS-19 post, but was transferred and Shakeel Bhatti, a BS-17 officer in S&GDA, was posted in his place on deputation basis.

The petitioner claimed that Shakeel Bhatti’s appointment was made with mala fide intention as he was not eligible to be appointed against the BS-19 post for being an officer of BS-17. He pointed out that certain officers were working in LDA in BS-19 but they were ignored to accommodate a blue eyed officer.

He pointed out that defending the appointment, LDA legal adviser argued that Bhatti was not posted permanently against the post of director admin as he is swerving on deputation basis, thus, there was no mala fide on the part of LDA. After hearing the preliminary arguments, Justice Shujat Ali Khan stayed the appointment of Bhatti and sought reply from LDA within 30 days.