IHC imposes Rs100,000 fine on petitioner challenging PTV digitization project
JournalismPakistan.com | Published: 29 April 2015
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The Islamabad High Court imposed a Rs100,000 fine on Tahir Mehmood for contesting the validity of a Pak-China digitalization agreement. The court dismissed the case based on the Information Ministry's defense that the project complies with regulations.Summary
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court Wednesday fined Tahir Mehmood, a former Accountant General of Pakistan Rs100,000 for challenging a Pak-China agreement to digitalize the state-run Pakistan Television.
The petitioner, Tahir, said the Pak-China agreement to digitalize the state TV was in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules.
The counsel for Information Ministry and PTV Shahid Mehmood Khokhar, however, told the court that the agreement has nothing to do with the PPRA rules as Chinese government has provided grant-in-aid to Pakistan worth $50 million for the digitalization of PTV.
Khokhar said that no Pakistani institution or agency will execute the project as this is not a loan.
A MoU for the project was signed in 2012 and the recent visit of the Chinese President has endorsed the agreement.
Chinese government has given the grant to a company named ZTE to execute the project. The court dismissed the case while imposing Rs100,000 fine on the petitioner.
KEY POINTS:
- IHC fined Tahir Mehmood Rs100,000 for challenging PTV digitization.
- The project is funded by a $50 million grant from China.
- The court ruled that the agreement does not violate PPRA rules.
- A MoU for the project was signed in 2012.
- ZTE is the company executing the digitalization project.
