IN THE COURT OF PUNJAB LABOUR COURT NO.4 FAISALABAD
Shamsul Islam Naz, Special Correspondent, Daily “Dawn”, 130/ C Peoples Colony No.1, Faisalabad.
……..……. Petitioner
Versus
- The Pakistan Herald Publications (Pvt) Ltd, (Daily Dawn), Haroon House, Karachi.
- The Chief Executive, PHP (Pvt) Ltd (DAWN), Haroon House, Karachi.
- The Manager (H.R.), PHP (Pvt) Ltd. (Daily DAWN), Haroon House, Karachi.
- The Secretary, PHP (Pvt) Ltd (Daily DAWN), Haroon House, Karachi.
- Mr. Abbas Nasir, Editor, DAWN (PHP) Pvt Ltd., Haroon House, Karachi.
…………. Respondents
PETITION UNDER SECTION 46 (3) OF THE IRO 2002 READ WITH
(S.O.) OF 1968 AGINIST DISMISSAL ORDER DATED 08-10-2010
FOR REINSTATMENT IN SERVICE WITH BACK BENEFIT
1, That the present petition is being filed as per orders of the court after amending the parties names (particulars ) respondents.
2. That the respondents are engaged in the business of manufacturing, printing, sales, trade of various publications including books, magazines, journals, newspapers, arranging, conducting and holding of fares, investment shows, books sales, workshops, seminars, exhibitions, purely on commercial lines, with the sole object of earning profits there from by creating a network of establishments of offices and centers, besides bringing out a newspaper in the English language known as “DAWN” on daily basis.
3. That with the object of further expanding its products & enlarging its coverage, the respondents, with a well planned and calculated move, made an announcement in 1982 in the “DAWN”, for hiring “human capital” of those capable persons who were well versed, fully skilled & possessed the potential to promote their products in furtherance & enhancement of their sales and profitability.
4. That the deponent, inspired with the said announcement of the respondents, submitted his mental faculties, services, potential, efficiency & intellectual, capital at the disposal of the respondents and offered himself for posting in the Sarogodha district as a mere Correspondent, with emphasis on being considered for a regular & permanent staffer at FAISALABAD, on the basis of his professional & outstanding capabilities merit & suitability, to entire satisfaction & criteria evolved and laid down by the respondents according to their own requirement and the objective of earning more and more profit, flourishing of business & achievement of goals for which the company had been setup.
5. That the respondents who at first decided that the “CORRESPONDENTS” would be required to be interviewed by the Bureau Chief, who was then the Late Mr. Nasir Osmani, Punjab (Lahore), however, as a special case, opted to ask the deponent to appear in the Head Office, before a Selection Board headed by the then Editor of Dawn, the late Ahmad Ali Khan at Karachi.
6. That in this back drop, purely on the basis of merit laid down by the respondents themselves, for their own gainful objectives, the respondents were impressed by the deponent’s capability to such an extent that instead of sticking to their tactics & agenda to consider the latter for bare Correspondent-ship of Sargodha, chose to offer the deponent a permanent & regular post as a Staffer at Faisalabad for which the deponent in his application had just referred to for effective utilization of his human capital.
7. That on the basis of the well judged recommendations of the late Ahmad Ali Khan, the then Editor “Dawn”, the respondent No. 2 issued an appointment letter dated 1st March 1983 in favour of the deponent offering him service in the company & narrating the terms & conditions thereof.
8. That ever since receipts of the said appointment letter the deponent had been in the service of the respondents company as one of the leading staffers in the Punjab after Lahore, Rawalpindi /Islamabad since 1983.
9. That being one of the an energetic & dynamic staffers of the respondents, the deponent made valuable contributions to their entire satisfaction, profitability & smooth flow of business by putting intellect, potentialities, youth & vigor in a sincere effort to prove himself an asset for them. Rather the respondents throughout acknowledged and appreciated the deponent’s absolute professional worthiness, notwithstanding, the fact that the respondents had not fulfilled their legal obligations and deprived the deponent of various legitimate fringe benefits accrual on account of the nature of job performed by him right from the day of appointment, to-date.
10. That the respondents company’s heirarchy was carved in such a way that the “DAWN” was perhaps the only paper in the country wherein the company’s directors including its owner, the Chief Executive, did not assume the privilege of claiming & styling themselves as “EDITOR”, or “CHIEF EDITOR”, in any manner. The pride of professional persons for opting the “DAWN” was to render services under the direct command, supervision & absolute authority of the professional Editor. This was infact an inspiration for a professional media man to groom & flourish for such a unique & conducive environment to serve the “DAWN”, ignoring the periodic atrocity and typical traditional attitude of the employers of taking pleasure in depriving their employees of legitimate fringe benefits in order to gain maximum profit. A number of professional persons did not resorted to court for “monetary benefits”, and securing their just rights, admissible under the law. In this scenario, the deponent kept working with zeal and zest for the respondents, with a feeling of satisfaction & pride in the job.
11. That since the “professional editors” of the “DAWN” were known to be very strong, and had not allowed the Management heirarchy to keep the professional persons like the deponent, under their direct “subordination”, and exploit their position of fiduciary & force them to do over & above the professional functions & act as their stooges for looking after their vested interests at Faisalabad. Such practice remained operative till the golden tradition of the “DAWN” was preserved & protected by the professional Editors. But a “U turn” was taken with the induction of the respondent No. 5, in the company who for the first time in the history of the “DAWN” since its inception, gave the “professional heirarchy” in direct command of the Management, of which they had been dreaming for decades. This was the beginning of the ugly period and since then the Company Management started acting in a revengeful manner to teach lessons to all those who had not been “behaving” as per their own settled agenda of protecting their vested interests. As a special task the new incumbent Editor (Respondent No. 5) immediately after taking over charge started implementing the agenda adopted by the company to get rid of the deponent from the scene of Faisalabad. The succeeding incidents exposed the hatched conspiracy and malafide agenda set by the Company Management against the deponent, detail of which reveals bad faith & true vindictive faces of the respondents against the deponent.
12. That the Respondent No. 5, within a span of hardly 30 days of taking over charge of the Editor of “Dawn”, secretly asked the respondent No. 3, to transfer the deponent from Faisalabad to Karachi, who immediately responded to the said instruction and issued an Order dated 13-06-2006, maintaining secrecy of the “planned conspiracy” of removing the deponent form the Faisalabad scene as per agenda given by the Company Management. This fact can be judged from the contents of the “transfer letter” which was absolutely without justification, which did not disclose any reasons for such an action, concealing the tainted malice behind the move.
13. That the deponent being a faithful employee of the company was not aware of the conspiracy hatched by the respondents and did not doubt that the respondent No. 5 who had even not judged his performance & professional capability after assuming charge of the “DAWN”, would be so hurriedly inclined to fulfil the decades old dream of the management to remove him from the Faisalabad scene, and would be given a secret task for its accomplishment. So in this backdrop the deponent could not comprehend. The biased action of the Respondent No. 5, in the whole melodrama.
14. Being unaware of the biased designs of the newcomer in the Organization as a Chief of the Editorial Department, the deponent at the very outset, in good faith, decided to approach the Editor (Respondent No. 5) on receipt of the transfer order from the Respondent No. 3, and immediately tried to establish contact with the Respondent No. 5, to apprise him of the true picture and to learn the reasons and the real cause of removing the deponent from the Faisalabad scene, but could not succeed as the latter was on leave “abroad”. Resultantly, the deponent had to wait till his return i.e. 1st week of July 2006.
15. That on 11-07-2006 the deponent met the Respondent No. 5, at Karachi, and delivered him a representation for reviewing the decision of his transfer order. The Respondent No. 5, very cleverly in bad faith, did not disclose during the meeting that he had prevailed upon other respondents for transfer of the deponent from Faisalabad to Karachi, when the deponent narrated in detail the whole facts leading to the annoyance of the Management of the Company. The respondent No. 5, kept scanning facts from the deponent and gave an impression that he was not aware of the root cause of his transfer order or any dirty thinking, and confessed off the record that the facts narrated by the deponent were very logical & true, and gave him full confidence and word of honour that he would behave and act like a purely professional Editor as per golden tradition set by his predecessors, leaving not an iota of doubt about his words. The contents of the representation, dated 11-07-2006 are reproduced below: -
REQUEST FOR REVIEW OF TRASNFER ORDER
“I beg to submit humbly and respectfully with deepest feelings of sorrow and agony over the way I have been all of a sudden asked to report to Karachi, after serving this institution for over twenty three years with utmost sincerity, devotion, and commitment, in course of which I had to pass through a series of atrocities, mental torture and financial crunch, which is a cold blooded reward.
I feel really proud and satisfied to declare that during the 23 years of my stay in DAWN, I voluntarily stayed away from a lot many proposition of benefits, privileges and perks, not only from Dawn in particular but also from the platform of Journalism in general and the public and private organizations in particular, only to keep my hands clean and my pen free. A few examples are cited below; -
i. I have never applied for any plot in any journalist colony anywhere in Pakistan.
ii. My family or myself had never traveled through concession tickets in Railway or PIA.
iii. I never availed or claimed any official vehicle for a single Kilometer to perform my official duties inland or abroad.
iv. It is also a matter of record that I have never displayed my portfolio for gains and always described my occupation as a “private job” which can be verified from my identity card, passport and school admission forms of my kids.
v. I even do not maintain “visiting cards”, letter pads, or a nameplate displaying my designation at my house or vehicle.
vi. on the other hands during my entire professional career: -
vii. I have not missed a single story and there is not a single explanation on record to belly my claim in this respect.
viii. I have never been charged for misreporting or defamation in any court of law by any aggrieved person, institution etc.
ix. My service were generally found satisfactory and up to mark, if not extraordinary.
x. I was never accused of inefficiency, irresponsibility or lethargy in reporting.
xi. I was never charge-sheeted or subjected to any inquiry or explanation during my entire carrier.
It is also a matter of record that only one Suit for Defamation was lodged by a District Police Officer, Faisalabad, Zafar Abbas Lak who happens to be a son-in-law of the CHAUDHARIES OF GUJRAT against DAWN and me in retaliation of exposing his corruption (Police Housing Scam). The Court on merit dismissed the suit and held that my story was based on true facts. In a departmental inquiry too Mr. Zafar Abbas Lak was found guilty of the charge, which was reported by me in the DAWN.
I am supervising the development and construction of the Faisalabad Press Club Faisalabad and my contribution is very much known. It may be noted that the under construction project of the Faisalabad Press Club Complex is one of the biggest in Asia and also a grand modle of architecture. Unfortunately, the natrious exploiters Mafia of Faisalabad who misses no opportunity of exploitation started creating hindrance in the way of completion of the Press Club and unleashed a ferocious vilification campaign against me.
Unfortunately, the journalist community by and large, barring a few exceptions, in Faisalabad has been badly corrupted and degenerated, and reduced to touts of Police & administration & puppets of the underworld, for whom a clean journalist like me is an eyesore. Some journalists and others having personal grudge against me also joined the melee.
It may also be noted that once I reported in the DAWN that one of the busiest intersections (GST Intersection) of the city was creating hindrance in smooth flow of traffic on account of encroachment on state-land, because out of the four slip-roads one side had been encroached by Ahmad Kamal Nizami, a nephew of Majeed Nizami of Nawa-e-Waqat, who is running Honda Motorcycle Agency at the site and also claims himself to be Bureau Chief of the Nawa-e-Waqat, while a portion of the same side was grabbed by Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, owner of the Daily “Business Report” an eveninger, who had set up his office and installed press there. This story unfortunately became a cause of grudge nurtured by both of them and had published a number of articles and news against me as a result I am running a hurdle race every day.
A recent incident is also worth being brought to your kind notice. On the 25th May 2006, a story pertaining to exchange of hot words between the Vice Chancellor, GC University Faisalabad and an MNA belonging to the PPP-Patriot over an issue of sexual harassment of a 3rd year LLB girl student was sent by me to the DAWN, which was published on the 26th May. A follow-up was also sent by me to the DAWN due to which the Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Asif Iqbal threatened me to “FIX UP” and get me removed from Faisalabad. The Vice Chancellor also stated in categorical terms that in future any news sent by me would not be allowed to be published in the DAWN. Surprisingly, a story of demonstration staged by a group of students of the G.C. and two related news items sent by me were not published. I informed the Resident Editor, DAWN Lahore on Cell Phone about threats by the said V.C. and non-publication of the above-mentioned stories, as threatened by the VC.
The Resident Editor told me that he was in Karachi and assured me that he would look into the matter. It is pertinent to note that a few months ago the said exploiter Mafia had declared in the press that they would compel the DAWN management to remove me form Faisalabad.
Therefore, I feel that I have fallen victim to nefarious intrigues of a Mafia which is known to be black mailers, land grabbers, looters, exploiters, police touts, professionally corrupt and members of the under-world, who considered the undersigned to be a great hindrance in the way of their corrupt practices and had been all out to get me eliminated from the scene of Faisalabad.
I, feel that I have been subjected to the wrath of the said Mafia for up keeping the bright tradition of the DAWN of fearless and honest reporting, maintaining the highest professional standard, and following the voice of conscience.
The wife and the children of the undersigned were constantly subjected to harassment and threats through phone calls, anonymous letters and even direct messages through known people.
Lastly, on the 4th of January 2004, a maidservant committed suicide in my house during absence of my family and myself. However, after three days of the incident, the media mafia with the collusion of Zaafr Abbas Lak, succeeded in registration of a case under section 302 PPC against me, my wife, daughters, driver and my house watchman and his wife. But I refused to toe the line of the media Mafia. However, on merit the case was proved fabricated.
You would appreciate that I had always been facing threats, physical attacks and aggressive actions against me with patience and grace. I chose to be so much scrupulous that I did not make a report of such nor send news to the head office nor sought shelter from the Press Club, Union of Journalists or any forum just to keep aloof from dirty politics.
However, I courageously challenged them in a court of law where they were defeated and truth was established. I faced all such atrocities in a dignified and graceful manner and was content only n moving in a court of law. I have always avoided carefully and scrupulously to stoop to the level of the gangsters and resort to counteraction. Otherwise, there is a long list and countless documentary evidence of misdeeds of the gangsters who had openly threatened to maneouvre my transfer. Therefore I may kindly be allowed to submit that seen in this context, the proposition of my transfer is a cruel reward of the sincere and selfless services rendered by me.
I was fully confident that the DAWN management would give protection to an old and loyal worker like me and would not be miscarried by the malicious propaganda of mischief mongers, to transfer me without hearing me and assessing the ground realities and hollowness of the assertions against me.
Posting and transfer is admittedly a routine matter. But in a case like this which had been hatched by foul players, the prestige of the high office of DAWN is involved which demands that a loyal and conscientious worker should be protected and not punished at the instigation of mischief mongers.
May I request that I may kindly be granted an opportunity to prove my innocence and bonafides, a fact finding committee may be set up, and my transfer orders may be deferred till finalization of the inquiry by the fact finding committee.
The undersigned who is an old and loyal employee of the DAWN shall feel highly grateful he is granted an opportunity of redeeming his position and is protected from the intrigues of the Mafia gangsters of FAISALABAD”.
16. That when no response was received upon the said representation the deponent moved an other representation to the Respondent No. 5, on July 28, 2006, in which a detailed reference was made about the “on record” conversation between the deponent & the Respondent No. 5, which reads as under: -
“Most respectfully submitted that the undersigned visited your Office on 11th July, 2006 with a request to review the Transfer Order’s dated 27th June 2006 issued by the Management whereby I have been posted at Karachi vide Memorandum No. M (HR)/PHPL/06/4472.
You were kind enough to give me patient hearing and listen to my viewpoint sympathetically wherein it was transpired that my transfer was an outcome of a “series of complaints” moved by various persons. But the complaints or name of complainants were not disclosed to me.
With respect to this disclosure the following humble submission are made: -
i. No verbal or written complaint had ever been intimated to me. No explanation was called from me.
ii. My conscience as well as my service record was clean and clear. I had always tried my utmost to serve the institution faithfully and honestly.
iii. Dictates of justice and fair play demand that I should have been afforded an opportunity of self-defence and called upon for explanation of my position in case there was any complaint or charge against me.
iv. I also humbly informed you that some Police quarters feeling perplexed had been after me to “fix me up” to satisfy their hurt ego due to my fearless and honest reporting exposing their inefficiency and corruption.
v. I also appraised your honour that some powerful police officers who were proceeded against by the Government and concerned agencies due to my reporting were constantly threatening myself and my family and “some handpicked journalists who are always readily available for playing in the hands of police officers for sake of paltry gains had been given the assignment of launching a vilification campaign against me.
vi. I also submitted that a particular journalist Mafia accustomed to cheap and corrupt practices, wanted to tarnish the clean image of DAWN and myself and to bring it under their umbrella, desperately wanted to get rid of me by all means.
vii. I also submit that I have credible, substantial and corroborative evidence and facts to prove the facts stated above.
viii. I humbly prayed before you and also submitted a written representation mainly agitating that if my transfer had been ordered on some complaint, action on the same may kindly be deferred till holding and finalization of inquiry.
ix. I also prayed that in case of any complaint against me, open inquiry may kindly be conducted.
x. Your goodself was apprised that once when I was present in the Press Club, situated near DAWN Office, alongwith Mr. Muhammad Shafique, Reporter of “AAJ Television”, and Mr. Ajmal Malik, Reporter of Daily EXPRESS, when Messrs. Imran Akram, Chief News Desk Lahore Dawn Office and Murtaza Razvi, whom I had not known or met before, visited me without prior information and without any file or folio, telling me that they came on some friends invitation for lunch in the Serena Hotel Faisalabad and thought of paying a casual visit to the DAWN Office. I also told that I warmly welcomed both of them and apprised both the gentlemen of the project of the Press Club by asking them to take a round of the under construction Press Club Project. A model of the FPC was also shown to them along with a brief out the feature of the buildings. They were invited by me to have a cup of tea by in the DAWN Office where they stayed for about 20 minutes and took just soft drinks instead of tea.
xi. During brief gossip the following question were put by Murtaza Razvi in a causal manner: -
a) What was the connection between DAWN News Office and the Press Club Building?
b) Whether I had any other source of Income other than DAWN?
c) Whether I had any connection with the PPP?
Obviously, I was not confronted with any complaint or allegation. Therefore, I look that said questions were just a part of an informal chat only. However, I took a pain to inform him that: -
a) The DAWN office had been acquired by me from the City District Government in an open auction. A rent deed to that effect was also shown to him.
b) The PC building was also under the administrative control of the CDG on rent basis at the rate of Rs. 5/- per month. I also told him that the rent of the Press Club building was paid by me for the last 20 years as the same had never been paid in the past. I also shown him the notices issued by the CDG for vacation of the PC building for non-payment of the rent owing to which I paid the rent for said period.
c) My wife had been running two schools, which she established in 1977 and in 1980 in two separate buildings, which were duly recognized and registered by the Education Department before her marriage. Presently, she is running an academy in 130-C Peoples Colony building, which she got on rent in March 1980 and the rent deed is also in her name. The income of the academy is purely of my wife and I have directly or indirectly nothing to do with the affairs of the academy.
d) My source of earning was only through DAWN and contribution in the Herald magazine.
e) I had no connection with the PPP or any other political party. Neither I am beneficiary in any manner in the past or present with courtesy of the PPP or any political party.
Both the gentlemen expressed their satisfaction and told that there was no specific purpose of their questions except informal chat and left the DAWN office Faisalabad.
It was prayed by me before your honour that a loyal and consciences worker like me may not be allowed to be disgraced as a result of false conspiracy by a few jealous journalists.
You are kind enough to inquire about my welfare and told me that my personal file at the moment was not with you and directed me to see you on 12th July, 2006 to discuss what type of the allegations were on the file.
As per your direction, I turned up in the office of the Secretary to Editor, at 3:45 PM, who told me that “you are not feeling well and could not meet me. He also informed me that you had ordered to me to go back with a message that you would find time to call me again. I was just leaving the office of the Secretary to Editor, when all of sudden you opened the door and finding me there repeated the message which you had left with the Secretary for me. You were kind enough to assure me that I would be provided a fare opportunity of self-defence in case of any allegation against me. You were also kind enough to assure me that I would not be subjected to public disgrace and given me a word of honour that if my innocence was proved, the transfer orders would be revoked and I would not be humiliated in any manner.
In the end, I would beg once again that I may kindly not be condemned unheard and provided an opportunity of self-defence in case of any complaint against me. It is also prayed in the name of justice and fair play that if my transfer orders have been issued on the basis of some complaint, the same may very kindly be deferred till formal inquiry, which I am prepared to face”.
17. That the Respondent No. 5, remained mum on the representations of the deponent which forced the deponent to move a number of communications to him while copies thereof were also endorsed to the Respondent No. 3 & 4 & Director Commercial PHPL, Lahore but none was responded to by any of the respondents with malafide intention.
18. That scores of letters were written & over 89 telephone calls and a visit was made to the respondents Head Office urging upon the respondents to review the harsh and malafide action of transferring the deponent from Faisalabad to Karachi. A concise & representative extract of the deponent’s letters, for instance, a letter dated July 31, 2006, is reproduced hereunder: -
BRANDING ME AS CONTROVERSIAL FIGURE A PROPAGANDA FEAT
“1. That I was told by your goodself the other day on making telephone contact about my transfer to Karachi that as I had become a controversial figure, my stay at Faisalabad was no longer advisable.
2. That it was most probably not in your knowledge that articles/news got published against me on which your opinion was based, were a conspiracy by a few non-professional and black mailer type and notorious pseudo journalists out of jealousy and for getting a free hand for blackmailing, to get me transferred from Faisalabad.
3. That there has absolutely been no controversy about me as regards my professional activity or job. There has been no case of defamation of misreporting against me. My record in the Head Office and Lahore DAWN Office would confirm that there is no complaint of exaggerations or distortion of facts, defaming any individual, agency, department, political parties or any one nor under playing, or over playing facts or emotional touch in the news sent by me. As earlier informed to your goodself that in the whole of my 23 years long service only one defamation suit was formally filed by a PSP officer, the then DPO, Faisalabad, against the Chief Editor, DAWN, Publisher Lahore and against me on the basis of one DATELINE filed by me. However, the case was persued and contested by me single handedly on behalf of the DAWN. It was proved before the Court on the basics of documentary evidence that the story sent by me to DAWN, against which the defamation Suit was filed was accurate and true. Therefore, the Court dismissed the defamation Suit field by the DPO. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it was the only case in the history of the DAWN, which was defended by a STAFFER single handedly and won. I am sure that there is not a single example in the DAWN where in a case was persued single handedly so faithfully and competently by a staffer and won in favour of the paper.
4. That it may kindly be noted that it is not generally possible for a good journalist to keep all cross sections of society pleased always and remain uncontroversial. But my record Alhamdulillah proves that I was never made a subject of controversy by neutral public, social, economic and political circles. Credence cannot be lent to a few cynical and biased journalists.
Therefore, it is humbly prayed that assessment or evaluation of my being controversial or otherwise may kindly be made on the basis of my professional conduct and service record, and not under the influence of malicious and false propaganda by a certain group of blackmailers cum journalists”.
19. That on the mysterious silence over the representation made by the deponent & the commitment of the respondents to respond in a positive manner, the deponent was left with no option but to further move another representations to the Respondent No.5, on 02-08-2006 copy of which was also endorsed to the respondent No.2 as well, The same is as under: -
PENALIZING A GOOD EMPLOYEE ON THE BASIS OF UNSUBSTANTIATED AND BASELESS ALLEGATIONS
“In continuation of earlier submissions made by m e the following submission are made further: -
i. That the order of my transfer to Karachi requires review and reconsideration as it appears to have been passed on the basis of fake and malicious allegations leveled by a few known blackmailer type journalists of Faisalabad, without providing me an opportunity of self defence or explanation of my position.
ii. That it is generally not tenable to believe that the high pedestal “DAWN” Management would be influenced by incredible propaganda of outside quarters, instead of taking independent view, in deciding the case of a faithful employee who had been covering independent, true and objective reporting of the events in Faisalabad for the last 23 years.
iii. That I have been left with no option but to take the initiative to discuss and to rebut the so called allegations leveled against me verbatim, in order to provide a clear picture;
Allegation No. 1 The piece of land adjacent to the Bank Al-Habib, earmarked for the Faisalabad Press Club Canteen was leased out to some private person for sake of monetary gain, by me.
Reply No. 1 The said site had not at all been earmarked, or leased out to the Press Club according to record. It was leased out in OPEN AUCTION through an advertisement published in the Daily “Jang”, dated 29-04-1994, to the highest bidder by whom a building was constructed and electricity, telephone & gas connections secured through proper procedure. The auction was ordered and got conducted by the then Deputy Commissioner who was also holding the charge of the defunct Zila Council, through various government functionaries including the City Magistrate, etc.
After expiry of lease period, the City District Government against put it to open auction. It was obtained by the same party with the highest bid, through open auction advertised in the Daily “Nawa-Waqt”, Lahore and Daily “Express”, Faisalabad. The DCO, City District Nazim and an Auction Committee, consisting of eleven members conducted the whole process.
It was the moral duty of the author of the article to produce and submit documentary proof instead of leveling baseless allegations. The author of the biased articles (Hafiz Ikram Akhtar) who leveled the allegations can be contacted through Phone Nos. 041-2633733, 0320-4889484. You may please depute any one from the head office to ask the author to fax documents in support of his assertions. But if fails to do so it would prove that the whole melodrama is false and fake.
ALLEGATION NO. 2: The money collected through sale of debris of the old Press Club building was misappropriated by me.
REPLY NO. 2: The debris of the old building of the Press Club and adjacent quarter was put to open auction by the then Deputy commissioner/Administrator, Zila Council through advertisement published in the Daily Pakistan dated which is scanned (next page).
Therefore, in the light of the submission made above, the substance of the allegations may be assessed accordingly. In case, if your honour still thinks there is any truth in the allegation of the author of the article (Hafiz Ikram Akhtar) you may depute any one from the Office to contact Hafiz Ikram Akhtar on Phone with advise to ask him to fax documents if any in support of allegation of misapporating lacs of rupees earned through sale of debris, by the undersigned.
In view of the above, it is humbly requested that my case may kindly be assessed on the basis of merit ad justice, and not mere hearsay and unsubstantiated propaganda by a few blackmailer cum journalists of Faisalabad.
It is further prayed that the honour and prestige of a faithful employee like me may kindly be protected as long as I am innocent and not proved otherwise, in the name of justice, fair lay, equity, professional ethics, law and prestige of the “DAWN”.
20. That again a representation was moved by the deponent before Respondent No. 5, on 19-8-2006, which is scanned below: -
REVIEW OF THE TRANSFER ORDER
“With deep feelings of sorrow and agony, I beg to bother you once again with these humble submissions; -
It is felt by me that I could not succeed in bringing home to your goodself that the order of my transfer from Faisalabad to Karachi was not an out come of original thinking by the DAWN Management, but a result of conspiracy hatched through group politics by a few Journalists with special reference to Faisalabad Press Club. Therefore, I would once again beg to draw your kind attention towards the followings facts: -
As soon as I was posted at Karachi, a certain lobby of police touts, operating as journalists, who were annoyed with me due to fair and independent reporting, and who had been exploiting the public ruthlessly, came in action against me, for the only fault of my continual refusal to join hands with their criminal lobby, who has pushed me in a miserable condition.
A letter sent by me to the Daily “MUSLIM”, Islamabad was published on the 17th April 1980, captioned, “LEGAL LACUNA; MAJOR CAUSE OF CRIMES”. The MLA Punjab, issued the following orders, on the said letter, to the Inspector General Police, Punjab.
“A press clipping from the Daily “The Muslim”, dated 17-05-1980, pointed out that “the heinous crimes like murders, abduction, child lifting etc. were on the increase in the District Faisalabad and police was providing incorrect figures”
“You are requested to take appropriate action and offer your comments by 20-05-1980”………..
Three days prior to the date mentioned above, I was arrested by the Police alongwith three of my associates, and locked in the Kotwali Police Station, on a fake complaint lodged by one Muhammad Rafi Ghori, Special Correspondent of the Daily “Afaq”, in which the stock witnesses against me were Munir Imran, Hafiz Ikram Akhtar, Maqbool Ahmad Lodhi, Qari Abdul Khaliq, (all those persons who claimed themselves to be journalists are currently also actively involved in a vilification campaign launched against me and are trying hard to dub me as a controversial figure in the eyes of the DAWN Management.
It is pertinent to mention here that as per opinion given by the Chief of the Police Legal Branch, a case under section 500 PPC only could be registered on the basis of the said complaint, whereas Section 379 PPC was also arbitrarily added by the SHO to block my bail.
Not only that, the news was got flashed in the media, by Hafiz Ikram Akhtar, and his companions, which interalia said that I alongwith three others was arrested by the police on charge of distributing objectionable material. We were not described “as journalists” in the news dispatches sent by the said lobby giving an impression to readers and general public that it was an ordinary case and the media had nothing to do with it. On top of it I was paraded around with both hands cuffed in busy city streets, as reported in the Daily “Jang” dated 23-05-1980………….
This speaks of the credibility and style of my opponents who are anxious to suggest to the DAWN Management that I am a controversial figure, to get the hurdle in their way of exploitation and black mailing, removed.
I was again detained in August 1983. Inquiry of cause of my detention was got conducted by the then Chief Editor, Ahmad Ali Khan Sahib, through Tariq Zaheen, the then Reporter of the “DAWN” in Lahore Bureau, wherein it was also found that I was victimized by the Faisalabad Administration mainly at the behest of the local Journalists lobby.
In 1996, the then Deputy Commissioner, Faisalabad angered by a DATELINE Faisalabad………, about the affairs of Chenab Club, employed a number of tactics for vacation of the DAWN News Office from its present premisis and demolished the office stairs. I was left with no option but to knock the door of he court of law……. In that whole scenario too that particular journalist lobby acted as tools in the hands of the Deputy Commission. Mentally belonging to the Fabian ilk, I moved neither any resolution nor involved the Press Club nor the Union nor got published the news in the DAWN, nor even informed my highups. This is a classic example reflecting my tolerance and reticence to react, which if still not convincing would simply mean my hard luck. Which a little bit of deliberation, the DAWN Management have come to the conclusion that my opponent had devoted themselves to dancing to the tunes of the police and administration and are out to dub me as a controversial figure? Anyone who would give some thought to matter would be convinced of my innocence.
On 4th Jan. 2004, suicide was committed by my maidservant at my house, in absence of my wife, children, and myself. The said group of journalists lost no opportunity to join hands with police and succeeded in getting implicated myself, my wife, children, driver & chowkidar etc. in a criminal case and got biased and derogatory news items published against me, extract of which reflects their venom and prejudice against me.
The cooked up story of killing the maidservant was found false by a Special Investigation team of the Crimes Branch which declared that it was a case of suicide. The investigation team vehemently declared that I had been falsely implicated in the case to ruin my dignity and honour as I had been enjoying excellent reputation among the public……….
Background of the said episode was that a report captioned “Police Housing Scam”, was published in the DATELINE FAISALABAD, exposing a big fraud committed by the then DPO Zafar Abbas Lak, who happened to be a son in law of the CHAUDHARIES OF GUJRAT”. On the basis of the said DATELINE FAISALABAD an inquiry was ordered by Senior Police Officers of the Punjab Police who in their report testified the allegations pointed out by me in the said Dateline. All the three police officer were immediately removed from the Punjab. In that case too the lobby which sent complaints and published articles against me shamelessly sided with Zafar Abbas Lak.
The said group till to-date has been actively operating against me on the instigation of Zafar Abbas Lak, publishing malicious material and launching vilification campaign. The case of promotion of Zafar Abbas Lak, as DIG Police, was turned down by the Chairman, Public Service Commission, Lt. Gen. (Rtd.) Jamshed Kiyani, who specifically referred to the DATELINE FAISALABAD, in all television channels and newspapers. The August Supreme Court of Pakistan also made observation and referred to my Dateline…
I am forced to point out that certain journalists who had always acted as touts and flatterers of police officers and had been backbiting against me only to lease them, and offering to act as their protectors against me. To be specific Mr. Hafiz Ikram Akhtar who had written number of article against me and sent to the DAWN Management alleging that I was involved in the mission of getting the DPO Faisalabad, Muhammad Amin Wains transferred and in getting some junior police officer posted in his place.
Mr. Ikram Akhtar, also alleged in an article published on Feb, 4 2006 that Athar Hussain Sial, DCO Faisalabad had been got transferred by me. With such nefarious tactics the said blackmailers group entices the local officers and then gets undue benefits. It suits their vested interests to malign me. It was openly declared by them that the Management of the DAWN would be moved to transfer me from Faisalabad. No sooner than I was transferred, a special circular was distributed by them in all offices declaring that I had been transferred, my news dispatches had been blocked & I had no concern with the Press Club and the FUJ, which amounted to injuring the sanctity of the DAWN Management. The said circular was communicated to the Chief Minister Punjab and all offices.
How anxious and keen is the said blackmailer group to see me detach me from the DAWN Faisalabad, ca be judged from the fact that they did not miss the slightest opportunity to publicize my detachment from the DAWN Faisalabad. My name was included against my will in a recently constituted reconciliation committee for the Press Club and sent to the DCO.
A news item was carried by me opponents in which my link with DAWN was deliberately omitted while the names of other members were given with designations such as Khalid Abbas Saif, of Business Recorder, Maqbool Lodhi of Frontier Post and Muhammad Yousaf of Khabrain. This is a stark fact which I have unfortunately failed so far to make your goodself believe that certain quarters having vested interests are determined to get me removed from the scene of Faisalabad, annoyed by me honest and objective reporting.
I can produce volumes of documents to prove the nefarious designs of the blackmailer type journalists like Hafiz Ikram Akhtar and others who are active against me. But I am only enclosing four news items which merit attention of the DAWN Management to judge the credibility of those slinging mud on me.
Inspite of the massive vilification campaign launched against me, not a single instance of misreporting could be brought out even by me opponents. Therefore, they are trying their utmost to present me as a controversial figure which I am not.
I would request the DAWN Management to ponder that had I joined hands with the said mafia the good name and high standard of the DAWN would have been tarnished.
You would kindly appreciate that free and fair reporting for which I am known would not have been possible had I been involved in the slightest act of corruption. It is a compliment to me and the DAWN that not a single instance of that sort could be pointed out against me by any one out of the seven million population of Faisalabad.
I wish to enclose a piece of “LAHORI’S NOTE BOOK” of ZIM Sahib, published in the DAWN on 16-03-1997. The contents of the same are a proof of my performance relating to the Faisalabad issues.
I would beg your goodself not to kindly feel that I wish to cling to Faisalabad, but to look at the nefarious and torture some designs of the blackmailers mafia of Faisalabad which has subjected me to worst kind of torture, blackmail and disgrace, only for rendering sincere service to the DAWN.
It would be in all fairness, equity and justice to review my transfer orders. Moreover, there is no other male member except to me look after my family consisting of two young daughters and a wife. Therefore, I would implore for a more merciful response on compassionate grounds”.
21. That another representation dated 26-8-2006 was sent to the respondent No.5, on the subject of the “THE STATUS BACKGROUND OF THE JOURNALISTS MAFIA PITCHED AGAINST THE FAISALABAD DAWN STAFF CORRESPONDENT”. The contents of which are as under: -
“May I request you to kindly consider this communication in continuation and perspective of the previous ones? The status and background of the Journalists Mafia and activities of Hafiz Ikram Akhtar, the person writing most of the articles against me, may kindly be taken notice of. Why he commits the audacity to use slanderous and threatening words about me and also sends complaints / articles to the DAWN Management to get me removed from Faisalabad requires thought.
Not a single person or bonafide representative of any section of the society has so far appeared as complainant against me from among the 7 million population of Faisalabad. But this man and his associates acting as Police touts exploits the subordinate Police personnel by demonstration of close contacts and photographs with the Punjab Police Chief and also tries to get false cases registered against innocent persons like other & me.
He alongwith his associates including Munir Imran of (Pakistan), Maqbool Lodhi of (Frontier Post), blatantly floundering all norms, ethics ad standards of journalistic profession are devoted to flattery of senior Police Officers like the IG by narrating their performance against me, posing of having forced the DAWN Management to transfer me out of Faisalabad.
As a PROFESSIONAL EDITOR, you may judge the logic of Majeed Nizami, Chief Editor, Nawa-e-Waqt, and Arif Nizami, Editor “Nation”, getting photographs snapped in front of their office in Lahore with “journalists” from other cities. A photograph which they got published in the local papers is attached.
These blackmailers cum journalists have decorated their drawing rooms and offices with photographs with Police and top government officers including the President, Prime Minister, Federal / Provincial Ministers etc. only to over awe the public at large. Now they are bragging aloud that anybody not surrendering before their blackmailer Mafia would be dispatched to Karachi, like Shamsul Islam.
“This is going to be an exemplary end of those who dare to write against the Qabza Group of Faisalabad”, they claim. What an irony of fate that the staff reporter DAWN who did not to stoop to such cheap practices was made a scapegoat at the hands of blackmailers who openly boast of having pressurized the DAWN Management.
They openly boast that henceforth no journalist of Faisalabad would dare to take to free and objective reporting and every one would have to toe their line and will. It is simply ironical that the one, who did not fall to blackmailing and threats, fell to misconception of the DAWN Management, created by the blackmailers. I have upheld truth no matter if it is not recognized for the time being. But may I request the DAWN Management to kindly consider how it is possible for an employee like me to maintain two households at a time, with my meager wages, and how to acquit as a conscientious journalist and deliver goods in a city like Karachi where I have no roots, contacts, conveyance and accommodation. One top of it I am a Chronic patient of ASTHMA allergic to humidity which is typical of Karachi”.
22. That once again a representation dated 29-8-2006 was moved before the Respondent No.5, on the subject of “SHOULD THE BLACK MAILER MAFIA OF POLICE TOUTS-CUM-JOURNALISTS BE ALLOWED TO INFLUENCE AND MISLEAD THE DAWN MANAGEMENT” The contents of which are as under: -
“Once again I crave your kind attention to present documentary evidence and to submit that fake, fabricated and concocted accusations have been leveled against me with a biased mind and ulterior motives according to a preplanned conspiracy, which are far from facts.
It was in all fitness according to the principle of natural justice that I should have been afforded an opportunity to be confronted with those allegations and called upon to explain my position.
I wish to bring it to your kind notice once again that the so-called journalists of Faisalabad who are active against me do not concentrate on journalistic ethics and profession, but are very keen to get their photographs snapped with senior officers which are used and demonstrated by them to intimate and fleece the public. A special Photographer for this task always accompanies them not only in Faisalabad but in other cities too.
They are so enthusthic and cunning in this respect that they always remain vigilant on social and marriage functions of the senior police & civil officers and politicians and never hesitate and feel ashamed over storming such functions without invitation, posing to the hosts have come to give coverage to their functions.
As a proof, photograph of the whole group with the Inspector General of Police Punjab, in a recent marriage function (at Lahore) are attached for reference.
It is worth noting that in one photograph, IG Police Punjab has been shown presenting a shield to Mr. Munir Imran for “meritorious journalistic performance”. (Alas! is it possible that the IG Police Punjab keeps shields in his office always and presents the same without any schedule & cause, this reflects upon the mentality of these fellows).
Another photo shows Hafiz Ikram Akhtar receiving a should from the IG Police “for outstanding service”..
Another photo shows a group of journalists of Faisalabad including Hafiz Ikram Akhtar, G.N. Pervaiz Chishti, Mian Saleem Shahid, Mian Muneer Imran and Maqbool Lodhi standing with the IG Police, Ziaul Hassan and Additional IG Police, Talaat Mahmood Tariq.
Yet another photograph published alongwith an article by Maqbool Lodhi, captioned “Report of Tallat Mahmood’s son’s marriage” shows the same group standing around the Chief Minister, with the Chief Minister giving obviously displeased looks over the forced somersault.
A glance at the said article shows that it is full of flattery and cheap praise of civil and police officers which is unbecoming of a journalists. But this is how they manage to make the society a hostage.
The cheap and undignified way in which Hafiz Ikram Akhtar, in his article has flattered the IG Police Punjab would shock any self-respecting person.
As if it was not enough, the said so-called journalists published special features in praise of performance of Punjab Police Chief.
Obviously, how can the police quarters and police touts of Faisalabad be happy with the Staff Correspondent DAWN who exposes and highlights the misdeeds and highhandedness of police and miseries of sufferers, so boldly and eloquently?
Naturally whatelse would they like than to throw the DAWN Staff Correspondent out of Faisalabad who prays to ask whether this cold comfort response was a befitting answer to fair and honest journalism practiced by him?
May I beg your honour to consider that inspite of the most venomous and prejudicial campaigning against me, not a single instance of moral, financial and professional dishonesty over a long period of 23 years could be brought out against me”.
Am I not justified in praying that if there is any evidence or proof against me, I may be confronted with it? If there is none, I may not be condemned unheard”.
23. That likewise, another representation dated 03-09-2006 was submitted to the Respondent No. 5, mainly contending therein that “HOW AND BY WHOM FACTS ABOUT THE NEAT AND CLEAN CONDUCT OF DAWN STAFF CORRESPONDENT WOULD BE VERIFIED AND INVESTIGATED”.
“I beg to submit once again to your goodself that a group of blackmailer type journalists of Faisalabad maneuvered to create a biased and prejudicial impression about me and succeeded not only in getting me transferred from Faisalabad, but also in keeping me under constant mental tension by getting my daily news dispatches restricted.
I feel that my representations submitted alongwith authentic proofs and documentary evidence have perhaps not caught your kind attention yet. Therefore I take the privilege to rebut the allegations leveled against me, which are mainly as under: -
ALLEGATION NO. 1: Staff Correspondent of DAWN, Faisalabad who is an ex-Secretary Information of the PPP, District Faisalabad, is trying to operate the Press Club Faisalabad on commercial basis.
ALLEGATION NO. 2: Shamsul Islam Naz has collected RS. 8.5 million for construction of the Press Club Faisalabad.
ALLEGATION NO. 3: A huge amount was obtained by Shamsul Islam Naz fro the Bank Al-Habib for the piece of land of the Press Club.
ALLEGATION NO. 4: The Canteen of the Press Club was got allotted in the name of some other person.
ALLEGATION NO. 5: Former Deputy Commissioners Faisalabad, Ahmad Nawaz Sukhra and Nair Mehmood Khosa and City Magistrate Mian Mohsin Rasheed conducted inquires against Shamsul Islam Naz on charges of misappropriating funds.
MY REPLIES TO ALLEGATIONS ENUNCIATED ABOVE ARE AS UNDER: -
ANSWER NO. 1: I have never been a member or office-bearer of the PPP or any other political party. I have never gained ay benefit from any political party. There has not been any complaint from any person or party against me to that effect. There has not been even any complaint of biased reporting by me against any political party.
ANSWER NO. 2: I have not at all operated the Press Club Faisalabad on commercial lines. I have never accepted donation from any person. I have not even demanded any amount from any party for using the Press Club premises for holding functions and meetings. To quote an example, a sum of Rs. 50,000/- was offered for the Press Club, by one Mr. Zahid Hussain, Chairman, Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum of Karachi, in a “Meet the Press Programme” held at the Press Club Faisalabad, which was refused by me with thanks. (Any one can confirm this from his Cell No. 0300-8233364)
MQM held its first ever workers convention at the Faisalabad Press Club which was chaired by Mr. Farooq Sattar. Not a single penny was charged which can be confirmed from the MQM Headquarter or its local office.
Similarly, the PML-N Faisalabad also held its workers convention at the Faisalabad Press Club ad no amount was charged or demanded from them. It an be confirmed from Rana Sanaullah Khan, Deputy Opposition Leader of the Punjab Assembly (0300-6633087) who got booked the hall of ht FPC.
I can quote dozens of other examples, which can be verified, and put to challenge before any one and every one n Pakistan to prove that the undersigned never demanded any charge or requested for any donation. The allegation of running the FPC on “commercial lines” is nothing but a bundle of lies.
ANSWER NO. 2: It is wrong that a sum of RS. 8.5 million was collected by me for construction of the FPC. I did not ask for or collect a single penny or material from anyone, nor was any donation accepted from any one. This fact can be verified from the President, Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mian Muhammad Haneef (0300-8664043), former FCCI President, Mian Muhammad Idress (0300-8666696), Mian Muhammad Latif (0300-8660726) Chairman, Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC), and Rana Arif Tausef, Chairman Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (0300-8666969).
ANSWER NO. 3: I did not obtain any amount from the Bank Al-Habib or from any bank. The matter can be investigated from the Faisalabad branch or its head-office in Karachi.
ANSWER NO. 4: Not a single inch of the Press Club land has ever been given by me to any private person. Rather due to my efforts the land earmarked for the FPC was got extended from 1350 square feet to 14000 square feet. The electricity and telephones connections of the Press Cub had been disconnected for the last 26 years; besides that rent of the club building had not been paid for more than 25 years which has been paid by me out from my own pocket. Likewise, the electricity and phone connections were now installed by me from my own pocket which is evident from the enclosed bills thereof. At top of it “no canteen” was built in the FPC therefore, the question of its allotment to any other person does not arise.
ANSWER NO. 5: No formal or informal inquiry was ever held as claimed in the biased articles. May I request that some body from “DAWN” may be deputed to ask the author of said articles to furnish proof of any enquiry having been held. Phone No. of the author is (041-2642266). It is worth mentioning that not a single rupee or grant was ever received by the undersigned from any quarter including Punjab / Federal government. Therefore how any inquiry can be initiated by any authority?
I have ventured again and again to clarify my position and stretched my ego and self respect to the maximum n the process. Therefore, I wish to close my submissions with a challenge for anybody and everybody to come out with any proof against me.
I have always been loyal to the DAWN during the 23 years of my service and would remain so ever. But I do hope that I deserve at least one opportunity to be heard”.
24. That another letter dated 05-09-2006 on the subject of “A FEW GLIMPSES OF THE MASTER MIND OF THE VILIFICATION CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED AGAINST THE DAWN STAFF CORRESPONDENT FAISALABAD” was sent to the Respondent No. 5 and copy thereof was endorsed to Respondent No. 2 in which it was contended that: -
“May I take the liberty to once again submit before your goodself that orders of my transfer from Faisalabad to Karachi and of restraining the undersigned from filing the stores appear to be an outcome of biased articles & news got published by Mr. Ahmad Kamal Nizami, a nephew of Mr. Majeed Nizami, Proprietor and Chief Editor, of the Daily “Nawa-e-Waqt”.
Mr. Kamal Nizami, is also a Director of the “Nawa-e-Waqt”, who is a mastermind of the vilification campaign launched against me through his paper and cronies, as a calculated move to influence and mislead the DAWN Management through sending biased material and complaints.
Ironically, the DAWN Management some how appears to have been deceived b y Ahmad Kamal Nizami and his associates, as the Management has not considered it appropriate to know my point of view before making up mind, which is disgusting and discouraging.
It would be pertinent to know who this man KAMAL NIZAMI is and what his designs are and why he is after me!
a. According to the Bye-Laws & constitution of the Faisalabad Union of Journalists, & the Faisalabad Press Club, being a Director, “Nawa-e-Waqt” he cannot become a Member of these bodies. However, this gentleman poses himself as a Chairman of the FPC and also Pattern-in-Chief of our rival FUJ, for protecting his vested interest.
b. Photographs of the premises of the “Nawa-e-Waqt”, Faisalabad situated at the GTS intersection is reproduced below:-
The above photographs clearly reflect that it has been built on a Green Belt by grabbing State land. It may be pertinent to know that over 1500000 vehicles pass daily through this intersection and there is a slip road on all three corners of this intersection. But the fourth one could not be carved by the local Administration owing to the “terror” of Ahmad Kamal Nizami and is newspapers Mafia. There is hardly any day when accidents do not occur in and around this intersection. But the Administration is afraid of getting the green belt vacated from the clutches of Kamal Nizami.
c. A Honda motorcycle Agency is also being run by Mr. Kamal Nizami, in the said premises adjacent to the “Nawa-e-Waqt”, Office as evident from the Photo.
A bare look at the above photos also indicates that even the “Sign Board” of Kamal Nizami in-front of this office has been displayed with the courtesy of the PEPSI, betraying the stringency of the Director of “Nawa-e-Waqt”, Agency holder of Honda, and a real state investor, minting money to spend a petty amount of Rs. 2000/- on the sing board from his own pocket. How can he swallow my refusal to join hands with him in plunder and blackmailing and toutship of Police & Administration & vested interested?
d. A valuable disputed property situated on the Kohinoor Road, Faisalabad was purchased by him for only Rs. Five hundred thousand, which is actually worth million of rupees. This is the long and short of his journalistic activity.
The above said propriety of Ahmad Kamal Nizami somehow falls under the route of the proposed Kohinoor Fly Over (a first ever project of the city which was mainly conceived to save the citizens from traffic chaos). But Kamal Nizami through a flurry of stories and articles launched an organized campaign through fake figures for abandonment of this vital project costing over Rs. 800 millions. Through concocted facts and figurer he is trying to mislead readers of his paper that the Flyover Project is against the interest of the general public, a shameful lie! Can such a person of dubious conduct be relied upon? Truth is bound to prevail.
Kamal Nizami, is trying tooth and nail to show that the road which is one of the busiest ones of Faisalabad is a deserted one and does not need a fly over as per photo published by him in his newspaper which is reproduced below:-
Such pseudo journalists no doubt often succeed in hoodwinking the government. But it is a pity that this time they have succeeded in misleading the Management of the biggest National English Daily and character assassination of its faithful empl9yee who has poured in his blood and soul for twenty-three years.
I have to party in the name of fair play and justice not to be punished and condemned unheard on the basis of blackmailing and false propaganda of such so called journalists and blackmailers and not to be transferred out of Faisalabad for sake of their whims and surmises.
Note: - News items / articles (36 page) are enclosed. There are more but these given an idea, how cleverly campaign was lunched by the Gentlemen for his personal interest and quoted almost every organization of the city in support of his claim. So much so City Nazim and DCO were also quoted against the Flyover Project.” Copy attached as Annexure “P/13”.
25. That yet another letter dated 07-09-2006 on the subject of “WHY BASELESS AND MALICIOUS CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE DAWN STAFF CORRESPONDENT?” was sent to the Respondent No. 5 and copy of the same was endorsed to Respondent No. 2 which is as under:-
“1. That I submitted representations to your good self after my sudden transfer from Faisalabad to Karachi, supported by irrefutable documentary evidence, asserting that the series of malicious articles and campaign being launched against me was baseless and a result of planned conspiracy against me by vested interests.
2. That I intentionally and carefully avoided to involve myself in concussions and bickering with the blackmailer mafia, in order to maintain decorum, grace and high standard of the “DAWN”. Moreover, since the whole controversy waged by the said mafia was concerning the Faisalabad Union of Journalists and the Press Club, Faisalabad, I did not like to involve the “DAWN” in it. It is submitted that the whole controversy manipulated by the mafia relates to the FUJ and FPC and not the “DAWN”.
3. That the articles and allegations concocted against me are unauthenticated and unsubstantiated. Therefore, no notice or action is called for on the basis of fake and baseless allegations unless and until they are proved through a proper inquiry.
4. That it was legally, morally, professionally and humbly necessary before taking any notice that documentary proof and evidence against me was called for and I was confronted with it and afforded an opportunity to defend myself.
5. That I beg to present a copy of a letter by a Proprietor and Chief Editor of local dailies – “AMAN” and “PUBLIC”, Mr. Riffat Sorosh Faisal, addressed to Mr. Majeed Nizami, Chief Editor, Daily “Nawa-e-Waqt”, Lahore which is full of flattery and conspiracy. It has been alleged in the letter under reference that the fight for naming the Press Club as Hameed Nizami Hall was being fought alone by him, whereas the role of Abdur Rashid Ghazi, Chief Editor and Proprietor of local Daily “Daily Business Report” – was dubious. The letter further indicates that Mr. Majeed Nizami took immediate notice of this letter and asked Mr. Abdur Rashid Ghazi to offer comments and explain this position. Immediately, after receiving that letter Mr. Ghazi was pushed to become a party in the slurrious campaign. This unveils the background of the campaign. (The letter is scanned below).
6. That it is more than speaking and suggestive that one conspirator is trying to convince Mr. Majeed Nizami of his flattery and also calls another conspirator to be of dubious character. It throws light on the character of a major conspirator Mr. Sarosh Faisal of Daily “AMAN”, and Daily “PUBLIC”. It may be noticed that majority of the articles written against me were published in the Daily “AMAN” and Daily “LPUBLIC”. How much Mr. Hafiz Ikram Akhtar and his company is in league with each other can be judged from the photos scanned below:-
7. That the submissions made above are more than sufficient to unveil the whole conspiracy. Yet another instance is quoted which reflects the height of sarcasm, mockery and bankruptcy of character. This Adbul Rashid Ghazi who is hoaxing and tiring himself out in flattery of Mr. Majeed Nizami is the same person who vehemently opposed the proposal of naming the Press Club Hall as Hameed Nizami Hall, in 1982.
The article is scanned below:
8. That immediately after receiving instructions from Mr. Majeed Nizami for offering comments upon Mr. Sarosh letter on the issue of naming FPU Hall as Hameed Nizami Hall, Abdur Rashid Gahzi published a number of news / articles agitating for naming FPC Hall as Hameed Nizami Hall. A latest news item is scanned below:-
Would the erstwhile “DAWN” management still not take notice of the open Conspiracy? Would it be too much by a faithful employee of the “DAWN” to ask for not being victimized without an opportunity of self-defence, merely on instigation of such black mailers? Should an employee not expect genuinely to be defended by his management?”.
26. That the crux of all the above representations was that if the company had any proof or substance in any allegation or complaint about the integrity, credibility, competency, efficiency, obedience, and working of the deponent, then, a “fair, impartial and independent inquiry” may be conducted to ascertain the truth thereof by associating the deponent. The summary of the essentials of the representations in a nutshell was that the deponent should not be condemned unheard, and be given an opportunity of self defence, but to no avail. The Respondent No.5, made false promises on phone “of providing complete justice” & assured that the deponent would not be subjected to victimization. To deceive the deponent, the Respondent No.5, cunningly and tactfully and in bad faith, acted on the line of fulfillment of their settled agenda, and did not stop payment of his salary, nor issue any letter of warning for not performing duties at Karachi as per transfer order “dead line” i.e. 20-7-2006. Under the garb of this trick, secretly, the respondents inducted their blue-eyed man at the place of the deponent, thus closing the chapter of the deponent’s connections with his readers and stopping his performance of professional duties at Faisalabad, for ever.
27. That finally due to the constant “dumb and deaf” policy, malafidely, adopted by the respondents, the deponent was forced to seek redressal of his grievance by moving a formal petition under section 46 of the IRO before this learned Court for getting restraint orders against the malafide transfer order of the deponent.
28. That this learned court was pleased to suspend the said malafide transfer order of the deponent thus paving a way for the deponent to continue his normal duties. The respondents however, in line with the planned conspiracy and malafide intention, did not comply with the said order and made the deponent incommunicado. The arbitrary acts of malice remained operative even after the transfer order was declared illegal & malafide by the learned court vide judegment dated 06-01-2007.
29. That the respondents however, succeeded in getting the order of this learned Court reversed in an appeal to the Hon’ble Lahore High Court Lahore, vide judgement dated 17-7-2008, which was secured by the respondents by concealment of facts and misrepresentations.
30. That the whole conspiracy of the respondents and pivotal role of the respondent No.5, for his connivance at the acts of victimization of the deponent by the respondents came to light on 28-05-2008 when the respondents had submitted a so-called “Investigative Report”, dated 13-06-2006 conducted without knowledge or participation of the deponent, before the Honourable Implementation Tribunal for Newspaper Employees, Islamabad, in a case No. IT/P/248/07/C titled as Shamsul Islam Naz v/s Hameed Haroon & other.
31. That the contents of the said so called & fabricated report are clearly an open secret whose documents have been prepared with a clear cut agenda of removing the deponent from service in a systematic manner. At the outset the contents of the so-called Investigation Report removed the mask from the face of the Respondent No. 5, and it was proved that he had been giving a false impression that he would act as a professional Editor as per golden tradition set by his predecessors, and pretending to have no knowledge of the real cause of the deponent’s transfer from Faisalabad to Karachi.
32. That the deponent could not even think of the “game” secretly being played by the Respondent No. 5, for the pleasure of the company Management, which is evident from the contents & words of the representations moved by the deponent and case filed before this Hon’ble Court against transfer. Had the deponent been aware of any Investigation Report or role of Respondent No. 5, certainly, the plea & tune and contention of the deponent would have been entirely different.
33. That on 20–06-2008 the deponent applied for 15 days privilege leave w.e.f. 24-06-2008 to 08-07-2008, upon which the Respondent No. 3 vide a letter dated 25-06-2008, asked the deponent to attend duty at Karachi, instead of sanctioning the leave applied by the deponent mainly on the pretext that the same had not been submitted as per company rules on prescribed from.
34. That the deponent in response to the said communication sent a comprehensive reply to Respondent No. 5, on 28-06-2008 “GRANT OF PRIVILEGE LEAVE” which is reproduced below:-
May I draw your kind intention towards this fact that the undersigned moved an application for accord of approval of privilege leave w.e.f. 24th June 2008 to 8th July 2008 to your goodself and a copy thereof was also e-mailed to Manager (H.R.).
In response thereof Mr. Khurshid Aizid, Manager H.R. vide his letter dated 25-06-2008 made certain observation & reservations for the approval of the same.
In this connection, may I draw your goodself attention that the argument advanced by Manager (H.R.) in response to my application for privilege leave betrays prejudice and malice against me from which I have been suffering for the last two years, which has been amply evident the stance of the Management as well as the following facts:-
1. No so-called Prescribed Forms for submission of leave application have ever been supplied to me during my service of twenty-five years, in the “DAWN”.
2. I have in the past, always been sending leave applications and all other correspondence on ordinary papers, through post, telex, fax and e-mail, which was never objected to in the past, as done in the present case.
3. The contention of the Manager (H.R.) for rejection of my leave application is not only un-understandable, unlawful, and against natural justice and is also tantamount to victimizing and singling me out.
4. An impression has been given as if some staff or branch of the Management has been deputed for surveillance & supervision of my work, at Faisalabad while fact remains that only the undersigned is working in Faisalabad.
5. The Manager (H.R.) reproduced the following extract from the order of the Hon’able Lahore High Court, without justification, without necessity, without legal sanction, wrongly, in order to create an impression as if my transfer order has been issued by the Hon’able High Court.
“adhere to the court orders, relating transfer of your service from Faisalabad to Karachi in our Head Office”.
6. In the latest order issued solely victimize me, I have on one hand, been given a deadline from the 23rd June to 30th June for reporting arrival at the Karachi Office. In the same breath. In the same letter, I have arbitrarily and unilaterally made to be relieved from Faisalabad on the 20th June, which is clearly unjust, malafide and speaks of malice of the Management against me.
7. The perpetual actions & vindictive attitude of the Management against me and keeping me deprived of my legitimate, and laid down financial amenities, and keeping me “incommunicado” by blacking out the dispatches sent by me, speaks of malice against me.
8. Withholding payment of my due and legitimate medical bills and other facilities also speaks of malice against me, especially for the last two years.
9. The way I am being given the perpetual impression by the Manager (H.R.) through correspondence of being his “personal servant” is violation of professional decorum, fundamental & human rights and my right of freedom, and is also tantamount to undermining the dignity and good tradition & grace of the professionalism in DAWN.
10. That without prejudice to the above, I am submitting a separate leave application (enclosed herewith for one month i.e. w.e.f. 24 June 2008 to 23 July 2008 out of my accumulated privilege leave which is more than 150 day.
Therefore, it is respectfully prayed;
a) That the application for “privilege leave” submitted by me may be approved as per previous practice.
b) That the medical bills submitted by me may be reimbursed.
c) That the victimization campaign against me may be stopped”.
35. That similarly, another, communication for sanction of leave was also moved on 08-07-2008 to Respondent No. 5, while commenting on “Circular issued by the Respondent No.3”, on the subject of Grant of Leave dated 01-07-2008. The contents of the same are as under: -
“A cursory view of the Circular No. M (HR)/PHL/PHPL/XII/XIII/(L)/08 dated 1-7-2008 issued by the Manager (H.R) shows the following facts;
a) The Company has definite Leave Rules, which it is maintaining.
b) Privilege leave is availed by employees of the company without even submitting any formal application.
c) Employees who have not submitted formal privilege leave applications still, may submit the same by the 10th July 2008, otherwise their leaves would be treated without pay.
2) It is so clear that a discriminatory and uncalled for treatment is being given to me, inspite of a proper privilege leave application having been submitted, which indicates that I am being singled out and subjected to victimization.
3) The objection raised on the leave application submitted by me was that it was not on the “proper performa”, whereas, it is well in your knowledge as well as Manager H.R. that ever since the start of my service in 1983, no leave application forms were provided to me nor any copy of leave rules were ever supplied.
4) It is expressly clear from the Circular referred to above that employees have been proceeding on privilege leave even without submitting applications on the required form. They have not been directed to submit fresh leave applications by 10-7-2008. But in my case, I was not provided any such opportunity. But instead, I have been asked to first report at Karachi and then proceed on leave. Are there any such rules, which exist in the Company? If so kindly let me know and quote the provision of such a condition so as to enable me to abide by the same?
5) How can an employee who was never provided any leave rules and leave application performa be excepted to follow such undeclared and un- conveyed rules ?
6) Therefore, I humbly submit that I may kindly be provided leave application forms if any, and copy of leaves rules also. It is also requested that copies of service rules if any, in particular concerning provident fund, medical, bonus and other terms and conditions of the company, may also be supplied to me so that I may became aware and be able to abide the same accordingly.
7) I may also point out that I have been rendering services throughout the tenure of my service on the basis of “trust” in you and considering you the “trustee”. How painful it is feel that probably my “trust” has been betrayed; I do not know why ? Here I would attempt to make you recollect our discussion in Karachi on the July 10 2006. In that meeting you agreed with me and shared my feelings about the type and mentality of the management all over Pakistan, and limitations of the professional people. But you must appreciate that I did not make public all such discussions and did not even discuss those on the platform of Press Clubs, PFUJ, and FUJ. But still I am being dubbed as a violator.
8) May I, with regrets ask you where is your commitment made with me, “Mr. Naz I will not let you down & become an instrument of “your subkey” before your fellow journalists belonging to your opponent group. Is my transfer not the outcome of manavouring of the Management in collusion with the Faisalabad Journalists” ? Now “the cat is out of the bag” because of launching of the so-called and prefabricated Investigation report submitted by the Company Management before the ITNE carrying your hand written remarks, “Manager (H.R.) please transfer his service to Karachi”. What occurred to your commitment Sir, may I dare to ask you ? …Sir, the so called and concocted Investigation Report written by Mr. Razvi, is a bundle of lies, full of derogatory, defamatory, conjectures and insensibilities and itself provides a proof that “it is an outcome of conspiracy with the so called “reputedly honest Faisalabad journalists”. May I ask your goodself about your experience of professional life whether assessment and evaluation of an employee is made on the basis of his performance and repute, or from the accusations and contentions of journalists belonging to his opposite group. If the entire hue and cry was from the few handpicked journalists, then in principle, you are called upon to apply your mind, instead of according approval to the under game played by the Management through Mr. Murtaza Rizvi.
9) I may also add here that the Management is expected to be scrupulous enough not, to harm those employees who have given their life and blood to the company, only because if they are found lacking in fulfilling their “vested interests”. Technical points of frivolous nature are hurled on simple-minded employees, not aware of intricacies of rules, who therefore, find refuge in surrendering and retreating. However I would assert with full eloquence at my command that such tactics are inhuman, unjust, malicious and victimizing. Those who claim to be champions of “rule of law” and narrate sermons on golden principles for the people, forget how they maltreat their colleagues…..!!!
In the end it is once again requested that all the service rules, framed by the Company may kindly be furnished to me. The concerned person be directed accordingly. I do request, that in case, you find any thing contrary to facts, then for God Almighty sake, please take steps to call my explanation instead of becoming a party with the Management and sticking to an unfair and harsh order of transfer. Here a difference between a professional Editor and a professional brother becomes evident. I do hope for sympathetic and compassionate consideration of my submission”. Copy of the same was also endorsed to the Respondent No.3.
36. That likewise, on the same subject of “LEAVE SANCTIONED” a detailed letter dated 08-07-2008 was sent by the deponent to the Respondent No.5, in response to letter dated July 02, 2008 of Respondent No.3 which is as under:-
“I wish to draw your kind attention towards letter No. M (HR) HPL/XII/(I)/08/4472 dated July 2, 2008 which was sent to the undersigned by the Manager H.R. in response to an application dated 28-06-08 addressed to your goodself for grant of “Privilege Leave”. The letter was received by me on 07-07-2008 under registered cover.
2. A bare reading of the letter referred to above clearly indicates the malice and vindictive attitude of the Management about the undersigned. The Management itself unilaterally and arbitrarily passed a verdict against the undersigned, which is evident from the contents of the letter itself which reads as “At the outset, we categorically deny the allegations levelled by you which once again establish your own act constituting loss of confidence in employment in as much as it portrays a campaign of vilification against the management”.
3. The undersigned emphasizes that the above assertions are a classic example of prejudicial, distinctive, and vindictive attitude meted out to the undersigned, which is further confirmed from the following hard facts;
i) Hardly within 30 days of assumption of the charge of “Editorship” of the “Dawn”, by you I was transferred to Karachi, without assessment of my performance, without any correspondence with me, without any allegation on complaint against me about any matter concerning the “DAWN” which resultantly gives an impression that there was no complaint against me, at all.
ii). I personally appeared before you on the 11th July 2006 and submitted a written application for review of my transfer orders dated 27-06-2006 on which I was directed to see you at 5.00 P.M. the next day. When I reached there at the time given by you, your message was received through your Secretary, Sh. Latif, saying that as you were not feeling well, hence you could not see me. In addition to the above, direction was also given to me to return to Faisalabad and resume duty. Incidentally, it happened that for a few moments you made appearance in the room of your Secretary when I was still present there, and where you repeated the same advice to me to resume duty at Faisalabad.
iii). But after one week of resumption of duty my stories were stopped. On inquiring about it you avoided my phone call but conveyed a message to me through your Secretary that my representations for reviewing the transfer order had been referred to the Manager, H.R. I was advised to make contact with him. When I contacted the Manager, H.R. as directed by you, I was conveyed your order to report for duty at Karachi immediately. I was told that my transfer order was neither due to my trade union activities, nor due to annoyance of the management, nor an outcome of any revengeful proposition.
iv). At least one dozen applications supported by numerous documents were sent to you by the undersigned apprising you that a group of journalists of Faisalabad who had turned against me for my refusal to compromise with their “vested interests” had openly declared that they were in collusion with the DAWN management and had mutually conspired on a plan to get me ousted from the Faisalabad scene.
v) You were time and again requested to make public if there was any complaint or allegation against me, and to hold an inquiry. I also requested for being heard in person and afforded an opportunity of self-defence. But no reply was given to the undersigned. However, your message was again conveyed through your personal secretary that my transfer was not at all due to any complaint or allegation.
vi) That you had been personally apprised by me on the 10th July 2006 that the DAWN Management was annoyed with me owing to the comments given by me in an interview with the “ARY” television network about privatization of the UBL as the group which earlier acquired the rights of the UBL was closely related to the management. I also informed that due to the above stated reasons, the Dawn Management conveyed their dismay and displeasure through your predecessor Late Tahir Mirza, who however, declared that the views expressed by Naz were according to his conscience and his right of freedom of expression.
vii) That I had also told you that the DAWN Management had vested financial and specific interests in Faisalabad for whose fulfillment I was being pressurized to act as a tool. I have been bringing every matter to the notice of the professional Editor, without accepting pressure.
viii) That I had informed you that Mr. Murtaza Razvi, Resident Editor, Lahore came to Faisalabad accompanied by Desk Incharge, Mr. Imran Akram and told me that they had come on a purely personal visit.
ix) That I had also informed your good self verbally as well as in writing that the V.C., G.C. University, Faisalabad had threatened me that if any news item about the affairs of the University was sent to the DAWN, it would not be published. I had also informed Mr. Razvi, the then R.E. Lahore on Cell Phone about the threat given by the VC, and blocking of my news items in the DAWN. He replied that he was at Karachi, but promised to investigate why the news items relating to the GC University were not carried.
x) That when surprisingly and unexpectedly a three page pre-fabricated investigation report signed by Mr. Murtazai Razvi, which also carried your hand written remarks, “Manager (H.R.) please transfer his service to Karachi” came to light as it was submitted by the DAWN Management before the Implementation Tribunal for Newspaper Employees, Islamabad, alongwith with a Written Statement. The true facts how I was deceived and kept in dark and victimized were thus revealed.
xi) That it has been claimed in the so-called investigation report by Mr. Murtazas Razvi that;
“the sexual harassment story he recently broke for DAWN, involving the VC of GC University, his erstwhile friend, and a girl student has many question marks hanging over it; Mr. Naz denies any wrong doing”.
{How funny is the reference of the undersigned ? Such assertion was never discussed with me as claimed by Mr. Murtaza Razvi. He neither held any paper or pencil / pen in his hand when he visited me on the pretext of just a “courtesy visit”, without any prior information or notice to me either from the Management or from him. How this gentleman can claim to be a fair person. How such maneuvered verdict ……..“transfer his service to Karachi”…can be passed about me by you. I leave it to the history to decide about your role. In any case, I do ask from honour to show moral courage to tell me the truth that the Management has given you an agenda, to cow me down. Had you ever told me this truth, I would at my own have preferred to quit instead of engaging in the present scuffle, which is distasteful for me and for your Honour also}.
xii). But let me say Sir, this is nothing but hypocrisy played with me just for the pleasure of the DAWN Management and it is not going to add to integrity and fame of a professional person like you. It is nothing more than making mockery of a colleague, taking undue privilege of their position. Inspite of all that, I am being dubbed as a “Litigant” among professional Circles. How ridiculous.
xiii). The so-called investigation report further revealed that “In view of the above observations immediate action taken by the Lahore Office includes the cessation of Dawn’s carrying any incriminating reports stories filed by Mr. Naz that are not verifiable through another established source, particularly, with regard to the GCU. Three such follow-ups have been held back from printing so far".
xiv). Cheers….. Mr. Razvi, telling me on one side that he would inquire why stories about the GCU were not being carried, and claiming in the same breath before you in writing that he had already blocked three follow-ups about the GCU. [It is a pity that acting on such a baseless report, you ordered my transfer from Faisalabad to Karachi].
xv). I may also mention here that when I received my transfer order I saw Mr. Razvi in his Lahore Office and told him that my opponent journalist group in city was claiming that Mr. Razvi had conducted inquiry against me and some documents had been also submitted to him. When I told all that to Mr. Razvi he denied on oath and rather stated that when he received the copy of my transfer order he asked Mr. Abbas Nasir, as to why Mr. Naz had being dislocated as there was no complaint against him, nor had there been any exception about his working. He also told me that he would again request Mr. Abbas Nasir to reconsider my transfer order. That is what he assured me. But practically the gentleman was instrumental in fabricating the so-called investigation report. What can one call it ! Is it a lesson to me never to believe one’s senior who instead of sharing intellectually and deciding the issue of employees sympathetically, employs underhand tactics for maligning their colleagues, just to satisfy the vindictive ego of the Management. I feel ashamed to note this!
4. That how sarcastic the proposition is that I was never confronted with any report or allegation and the so-called inquiry was completed without my involvement/attendance. On one hand I was given assurance by Mr. Razvi that he would investigate the threat given by the VC, GCU and find out why stories concerning the GCU were being blackout. In the same breath it was stated by Mr. Razvi that three follow ups concerning the GCU had been blocked by him. Simultaneously, I am being blamed for “constituting loss of confidence in employment”.
5. A concocted and fabricated “investigation report” full of vindictive and derogatory remarks against me betraying malice and prejudice of the Management, proves that the author of the fabricated report, Mr. Razvi, was specially brought from Karachi to Lahore for the purpose to join hands with my opposite lobby of journalists of Faisalabad, to wage a vilification and character assassination campaign against me. It has been unwittingly admitted in the said Investigation Report that;
“Our findings, based on our tour of various parts of the city and interviews with a number of reputably honest Faisalabad journalists as well as our meeting with the DAWN Correspondent”.
6. It is pertinent to ask Mr. Murtaza Razavi, as to who gave him the right to certify my opponent journalists as “reputably honest” and to use indecent and derogatory and defamatory language against me;- an unwarranted malicious activity. Then there is also a question that why you or the Management did not hold an open inquiry furnishing me a charge sheet enabling me to submit reply thereof. You would appreciate that I at least on over two dozen occasions I requested again and again that if there was any complaint against me an open inquiry may be held. But one can not understand what was the justification for deputing the R. E. Lahore to inquire about me in his own illegal style pushing aside all known cannon of justice, rules and regulations.
7. It is pertinent to note that during the whole 23 years of my career, no Editor or Resident Editor or any senior colleague found any complaint against my professional working. But surprisingly, all of a sudden Mr. Murtaza Razvi got the “grand revelation” against me through hear says. But regrettably your honour did not bother to even provide me an opportunity of self-defence, personal hearing and cross-examination, and acted as per “desire” of the Management placing reliance on a concocted and fabricated investigation report.
8. That it is very painful to note that you did not act to save your old colleague and professional brother who had rendered sincere services; from onslaught of the “vested interest group”. You took shelter in the easy path of becoming a “tool” in the hands of the “vested interest group” and tried to please the management in an unfair…
¨ Is it not a fact that I have been deprived of “out fit” allowance for full twenty-four years ?
¨ Is it not a fact that I have been deprived for the last seven years of the Wages and fringe benefits of the 7th Wage Board Award ?
¨ Is it not a fact that I have not been given Cost of Living Allowance for over decades despite my entitlement ?
¨ Is it not a fact that I have not been given grade and fringe benefits as per my entitlement on the basis of my duties, which I was performing ?
¨ Is it not a fact that a number of my colleague who are far junior to me were given more attractive packages of salary and other fringe benefits ?
¨ Is it not a fact that on your recommendation hand some amount was paid to staff as a “Ex-Gratia” whereas I was deprived of the same ratio/amount a were allowed to my other colleagues ?
¨ Is it not a fact, that I was, deprived of various monetary benefits, which were allowed and given to my other colleagues ?
¨ Is it is not a fact the professional Editor always takes into confidence the professional bothers to leave the job, when he smells that Management has not remained comfortable towards him ?
¨ Why did you not care to guide me to make a graceful exit and resorted to employ under hand tactics for the pleasure of the management ?
¨ Is it not a fact that payment of a number of my legitimate entitlements such as reimbursement of medical bills, office rent etc had been with held so far, just to cripple me financially.
¨ Is it not a fact that inspite of suspension of my transfer order on 5-8-2006 and subsequent to its being declared illegal by the Court of law I was per force kept incommunicado.
¨ Is it not a fact that my successor who belongs to Faisalabad and was not an employee of the DAWN was appointed without any open selection, or competition only because he belonged to my opponent lobby of Journalists?
¨ Is it not a fact that I am being forced to keep contact with the Manager HR so that I may come under command of the Manager HR instead of the Editor against the golden traditions of the DAWN.
Looking though the perspective detailed above, did I loose confidence of the management, or I was made a scapegoat of the Management out of prejudice and malice.
I would once again implore you to kindly access my performance from professional aspect and request you not to throw me into the clutches of the “vested interests group” out to vilify me.
I am sure that you will just pass this letter to the Management for appropriate reply whereas that I am bringing it your notice only and only for seeking justice from you and order from you. Whatever is decided by you keeping in view the hard facts, and call of conscience and honesty, I would stretch myself to the last extent to bow down and accept it, leaving the matter FINALLY TO GOD ALMIGHTY”. .
37. That as per practice, traditions, it was only & only the Professional Editor, who used to “sanction or reject leave applied by the editorial staff like the deponent“. This fact was brought to the notice of the respondent No.5, time and again, & even through letters dated 28-06-2008, 08-07-2008, 23-08-2008, 29-08-2008, 30-0-8-2008 & 19-09-2008. But the respondent No 5, never responded to nor contradicted the contention of the deponent. The deponent in all the above letters also blamed the respondent No.5, for resorting to illegal and unlawful & malafide acts against the deponent to please the Management of the company. Copies of the same were also endorsed to the respondent No.2 & 4, who too did not care to take notice of the same with malafide intention.
38. That on the similar subject i.e. sanction of leave the deponent submitted applications / detailed replies to the Respondent No. 4 on 28-07-2008 and 19-08-2008, copies of the same were also endorsed to Respondents No. 2 & 5.
39. That on 17-07-2008 the deponent received a Show Cause Notice dated 12-07-2008 issued by the Respondent No.3, who was not competent to do so. Through that so called, arbitrary, and illegal show cause notice the deponent was charged of being absent from duty and asked to furnish reply thereof within seven days of receipt of the said Show Cause Notice”. Upon which the deponent submitted a detailed reply within stipulated period on 18-07-2008 and narrated in detail the series of malafide actions initiated by the respondents against the deponet, the contents of which are as under: -
“Reference to your letter No. M (HR)/PHPL/XII/08/4472 dated July 12, 2008 received by me through registered dated on 17-07-2008, in this connection the undersigned submits as under: -
1. That the Show Cause Notice under reply is incompetent, without jurisdiction & malafide, because under the law you have no authority to issue any Show Cause Notice or Charge Sheet to the undersigned.
2. That the so-called Show Cause Notice under reply is patently malafide & have been issued just to victimize me by way of removal from service.
3. That earlier vide letter dated June 13, 2006, written by Mr. Murtaza Razvi, Resident Editor, Lahore to the Editor, “Dawn”, Karachi, it was decided against me behind the back as under: -
“It is recommended that we check the terms of Mr. Naz’s employment with Dawn and the legal procedure involved in removing him from office. To start with, the Dawn bureau in Faisalabad should be shut down as a matter of review of our policy. A couple of younger, better educated stringers should be hired on a trial basis and trained at the News Desk for two weeks in Lahore; one of these could latter be hired on lineage-cum-retainer basis.”
“There is also the urgent need to disown the presence of Dawn’s ‘sub-office’ and to publish a legal notice in Dawn and the local papers, warning against the use of Dawn’s name and insignia for any purposes whatsoever. The notice should also state that we have no office in Faisalabad, and enlist the contractors who may be legally permitted to accept advertisements and notifications for publications in Dawn”.
-Sd/-…..
Murtaza Razvi, RE, Dawn Lahore
(It is may be noted that aforesaid so called Investigation / Inquiry report was conducted and completed against me without any notice, intimation, knowledge, information to the undersigned and completed on the basis of “here say”, without recording my statement or statement of any so-called witnesses in my presence and this very fact had been admitted by the authority of the so called inquiry report himself who claimed in the first page of his report that “our findings, based on our tour of various parts of the city and interviews with a number of reputably honest Faisalabad journalist”) {Ironically, the name of the so called journalists were not disclosed, nor the statements of such journalists were recorded in my presence, however, fact remains a persons who reportedly lead the tour of the so-called investigation team was belong to my opponent group of local factions of journalists and he was immediately rewarded for his maneuvering & distortions of facts by appointing him as a Staff Correspondent of the DAWN at Faisalabad, without calling any open application and made the undersigned incommunicado, immediately after his induction in the Dawn, this itself is a classical example of malice of the PHPL functionaries against the undersigned}.
4. In pursuance of the said letter dated June 13, 2006, I was maliciously transferred vide order dated 27-06-06 from Faisalabad to Karachi on the basis of hand written noting of Mr. Abbas Nasir, Editor, “Dawn”, Karachi who had from his hand written order on the top of the first page of the so called investigation report as under: -
“Manager (H.R.) Please transfer his service to Karachi”, thanks….
Sd/-
Abbas Nasir, Editor
5. From the above narrated position it is crystal clear that functionaries of the “DAWN”, i.e. Resident Editor, Dawn, Lahore, Editor, DAWN, Karachi, Director Operation PHPL, Lahore, Manager, (H.R.), & Chief Executive, PHPL, Karachi, secured the judgment from the Hon’able Lahore High Court, Lahore, by willfully concealing the aforesaid material facts, misrepresentations and fraud. In the transfer order dated 27-06-2006 as well as in the Written Statement filed before the Punjab Labour Court No.4, Faisalabad stand taken by the Editor, Dawn and PHPL functionaries was contrary to the actual reasons which were made the basis of transfer of the undersigned, as is evident from the letter dated June 13, 2006 which came into the knowledge of the undersigned for the first time when it was produced by the Editor Dawn, Chief Executive, PHPL, Company Secretary, PHPL & Director, Operation PHPL before Mr. Justice (R) Mansoor Ahmad, Chairman, Implementation Tribunal for Newspaper Employees, Islamabad alongwith Para wise comments in a case No.IT/P/248/07/C.
6. That I have duly applied for grant of privilege leaves which is my legal & guaranteed right under the law. No reasons whatsoever have been disclosed for declining my due leave.
7. That I have neither committed any alleged misconduct nor absented from duty, nor failed to comply with any alleged instructions. I am a law-abiding employee/citizen. I cannot think ever for the violation of any provisions of law, rules made in pursuance of the Newspapers Employees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1973 read with the Industrial and Commercial Employment (Standing Orders) Ordinance, 1968 to obtain privilege leave which is further guaranteed by S.O. 8 (Ordinance) VI of 1968, which operates, “Leave (I) Holidays and leave with pay shall be allowed as hereinafter specified---” …
8. That even otherwise, all the alleged allegations about submission of my privilege leave had already been explained/replied in detail by the under signed vide three separate communications dated 08-07-2008 in response to the letter issued by the Manager (H.R.). Copies of the same are once again enclosed, which may very kindly be read as part and parcel of my submission for grant of privilege leave. It may be noted that none of the reply referred above were rebutted or controverted in any manner by you or any functionaries of the PHPL which itself indicates that you had already conceded my contention in support of the Privilege Leave application moved by the undersigned.
In view of the above it is requested that kindly recall the Show Cause Notice which is otherwise, incompetent, without jurisdiction, patiently malafide, not maintainable under the law and rules and nullity in the eye of law”.
40. That without considering the reply to the “SHOW CAUSE NOTICE” submitted by the deponent, the Respondent No. 4, unilaterally, arbitrarily, and malafidely appointed an Enquiry Officer whose designation in the company and identity was not even disclosed, with bad faith. Aggrieved by that the deponent asked the Respondent No. 4, to withdraw his order of appointment of the said Enquiry Officer which was without any consent of the competent authority & to consider the reply to the Show Cause Notice. The deponent in his reply dated 23-07-2008 inter alia contended to the effect that: -
“Reference Enquiry Notice No. M (H.R.) PHPL/XII/08/4472 dated July 19, 2008 sent by you under Registered cover is in receipt on 22-07-08. In this connection prior to a reply from legal point of view, I understand that apparently the enquiry notice appears to be issued patently with malafide in a calculated move to remove me from service by hook or crook. The contents of the so-called enquiry notice referred to above, reflect the Management, is determined to pursue its agenda to get rid of me by all foul means crossing over all cannons of justice, fair play, equity, law, rules, regulations, basic & fundamental, human and constitutional rights.
2- It is pertinent to mention that the Enquiry Notice has been issued in utter haste, fraudulently and unlawfully with a bad motive to teach me a lesson on my trade union activities and refusal to became a tool of the Management for its vested financial and illegal interests in Faisalabad.
3- That the Enquiry Notice has been issued without any substance, justification, & without considering my detailed reply dated 18-07-08 to the so-called Show Cause Notice, which was sent though Courier alongwith copies of the three letters dated 8-07-2008 in which detailed explanation was given about the charge of “absent from duty”.
4- That earlier a malafide Show Cause Notice had been issued by you which was against law and facts, arbitrary without competence to rhyme and reasons, however, it was duly replied to. But the reply was not considered by you out of malice and an Enquiry Notice was issued straightway which too is illegal, malafide, without jurisdiction & meant for taking revenge from me owning to my trade union activities and active involvement in pursuing the cause of the workers /journalists for the implementation of the 7th Wage Board Award and other legitimate rights, from the platform of the Faisalabad Press Club, Faisalabad Union of Journalists, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and other forums from time to time, on refusal of the undersigned to become a tool “ in the hands of the Management”, for supporting their illegal goals and “vested interests”.
5- That without conceding to the above facts, it is respectfully submitted that the Enquiry Notice is illegal, bad in law, arbitrary, malafide, against the facts, without jurisdiction and without lawful authority on the following hard facts: -
a. That prior to issuing the so-called Enquiry Notice you willfully and malafidely had not placed my reply to the Show Cause Notice before the competent authority for appropriate action through Editor, “Dawn” and straightaway issued the Enquiry Notice and this act of yours clearly indicates bias and malice against me and reflects as well that you are just acting in a mechanical way for fulfillment of the task assigned to you under hand for removing me from service without any justification or fault of mine.
b. That without waiting for and without taking notice of my reply, and without intimating any decision passed by the Competent Authority on my reply, a pre-dated Enquiry Notice was issued by you in order to create a false impression that reply to the Show Cause Notice had not been sent by me.
c. That issuance of the so-called Show Cause Notice without any justification, rhyme and reason to an employee & then forcing him to reply to the same within 72 hours, is neither legal nor logical and reflects a biased mind and bad intentions being traversed.
d. None else other than a competent authority having Legal jurisdiction is authorized to issue a Show Cause Notice, according to law.
e. It is also pointed out that under the law there is no concept of “Domestic enquiry” a phrase, which you have used, in the so-called Enquiry Notice.
f. Appointment of a self styled “Competent Authority” and in furtherance deputing an Enquiry Officer by you is nothing but derogatory to law.
g. Appointment of an Enquiry Officer without review and assessment to the reply of the Show Cause Notice submitted, is unlawful and a continuation of the chain of vindictive actions and biased mind of the management.
h. The acts of preparation of a fake and fabricated Investigation Report dated 13-6-2006, my transfer from Faisalabad to Karachi based on that report, keeping me incommunicated, subsequently keeping me deprived of valid and legitimate financial benefit, of the 7th Wage Board Award benefits, are all a continuation of the series of victimizing actions taken against me.
i. It may be pointed out that a proper application was submitted by me according to rules, the decision of the competent authority has not so far been conveyed to me. Therefore the act of treating me absent from duty is arbitrary and ill founded.
j. I have never taken the liberty of becoming absent from duty during more than 25 years of my service in the organization or held responsible for any delinquency at all, which is an ample proof of the fact that the series of vindictive actions against me are a part of pre planned conspiracy to cow me down and desist me from trade union activities and to compel me to act as a tool of the Management to fulfil its vested financial interests in Faisalabad, as stated above.
k. The appointment of an Enquiry Office, without considering my reply to the show notice and ordering me to join an enquiry at Karachi, and even without waiting for outcome of my reply already submitted to the show cause notice is a pre planned conspiracy to remove me from service.
In view of the submission made supra, the order of appointment an inquiry Officer, to conduct Enquiry and the show cause notice are without lawful authority, therefore it is once again reiterated that this notice may very kingly be recalled forthwith”.
41. That by a letter dated 24-07-08 the deponent again asked the Respondent No.4. to put up his “REQUEST FOR APPOINTMENT OF AN IMPARTIAL ENQUIRY OFFICER” before the Competent Authority. The contents of which is reproduced below: -
“It is brought to your notice that vide letter No. M(HR)PHPL/XII/08/4472 dated, 19-07-2008 You had intimated about the holding of an enquiry against me on the frivolous charge of “absent from duty” and appointed one Muhammad Iqbal Ahmad Khan as an Enquiry Officer, whose designation, was not disclosed with ulterior motives.
I had informed you time and again through various letters as well as replies to the Show Cause Notice, Enquiry letter and letter of appointment of the Enquiry Officer, and emphatically declared that “you had no authority to initiate any such proceedings”. But you intentionally and willfully ignored all my submissions. It further indicates that you are bent upon victimizing and harassing me for the pleasure of the management and due to personal grudge which you had developed with me when I had demanded from you to let me know the names of the Directors of the PHPL.
You had also arbitrarily and malafidely not considered my reply to the Show Cause Notice, and by appointment as Inquiry Officer, unilaterally and ispo facto, assumed the authority of the competent authority against all norms of law and natural justice.
The person who has been appointed as Enquiry Officer, as per my information and record available with me does not belong to the “Editorial Department”. Furthermore, I am being compelled to join the so-called enquiry proceedings being conducted and ordered by you, without lawful authority, I am being forced to join the same at Karachi just to harass and victimize me.
In the interest of justice & fair play kindly restrain from vindictive actions against me and withdraw the alleged appointment of Enquiry Officer, Muhammad Iqbal Ahmad Khan.
Please submit my request before the competent authority for appointment of independent and impartial Enquiry Officer from Lahore or Islamabad belonging to the Editorial department under intimation to me”.
42. That Likewise, the deponent had also submitted a detailed representation on 25-07-2008 to the Enquiry Officer, Muhammad Iqbal Ahmad giving, in detail, a background of issuance of the Show Cause Notice, alongwith the reply of the show cause notice, besides holding his appointment as Enquiry Officer being without jurisdiction, and on top of it, expressing no confidence in his appointment, and reasons thereof. The extract of the same are given hereunder: -
“It is to inform you that vide letter No. M (HR)/PHPL/XII/08/4472 dated July 19, 2008 received on 22-07-2008 under registered cover, I came to know that you have been, reportedly, appointed as an Enquiry Officer to conduct enquiry on the alleged charges of “absence of duty” against me.
Without prejudice to the appointment and legality of the order issued by the PHPL Company Secretary, Mr. HOSHANG S. MASTER, I bring to your notice that a detailed reply to the alleged Show Cause Notice was duly replied by me, which interalia runs here as under: -
[However, the Company Secretary, without due consideration of my reply, has proceeded further to appoint you as Enquiry Officer, without any jurisdiction, justification & with malafide intentions].
Since reply to the Show Cause Notice was not considered by the Competent Authority prior to your appointment, therefore, action for holding enquiry itself becomes void abinito & against all norms of justice.
It is pertinent to bring to your notice that I had formally submitted an application for grant of privilege leave to the Editor, “DAWN” both through E-mail and Courier Service, which runs as under: -
[Note:- receipt of the said application was never denied by any of the functionaries of the PHPL including Manager, H.R. & Company Secretary].
Since my appointment in the organization from 1983 to-date I have never been supplied any “prescribed leave application form” if any? During the whole of 25 years of service I used to send leave applications to the Editor, “Dawn” through e-mails, fax, telex, or post on plain papers and leave was granted without any objection to its form. Surprising, it is for the first time that the Manager, HR and subsequently the Company Secretary has claimed that the above practice is not acceptable to them. Reply to such observations / objection was submitted vide three separate letters dated 08-07-2008, which are respectively mentioned below: -
[Note: - None of the above three letter was ever replied to or controverted by any of the functionaries of the PHPL as well as Editor, “DAWN”, which itself make it clear that they have nothing to controvert any of the ground realities narrated by me in these letters]
Undoubtedly, I am being victimized because of my involvement in the trade union activities and my critical comments on A.R.Y. T.V Channel about acquiring the rights of UBL by Mian Mansha, (Chairman, Nishat Group of Faisalabad) who is a close relative of the top Management of “Dawn” & my refusal to act as per aspiration of the management to look-after their vested financial interest in Faisalabad.
It is also pointed out that the entire proceedings initiated against me right from transfer from Faisalabad to Karachi and so called drama of “absence from duty” is a chain of a pre-planed conspiracy of the management to remove me from Faisalabad scene by foul means & ulterior motives.
I have also reservation about your appointment as Enquiry Officer which is illegal, without jurisdiction, malafide and without lawful authority for which I, am going to separately move a application before the Company Secretary.
Your appointment order, as Enquiry Officer, does not state your designation in the organization of the Daily “Dawn” alongwith your name, which is a legal requirement. How can I acknowledge an unknown E.O? Moreover, I have been forced to join enquiry proceedings at Karachi instead of Lahore or Islamabad purposely to harass me. Appointment of an impartial Enquiry Officer is a pre requisite for a fair holding Inquiry, which is missing in my case.
The propriety demands, that prior to initiation of any inquiry, reply to the Show Cause Notice be given due consideration, and if the reply is declared unsatisfactory, further action is to be taken i.e. appointment of E.O., formal charge sheet plus list of witnesses or detail of evidence to be furnished to the accused person.
Since all the procedural methodology is missing, I have also strong reservation on your appointment as E.O., and I have no faith in your impartiality / judicious dispensation.
In view of the above submissions, I hereby request to you to kindly postpone the enquiry proceeding as I have no faith and confidence upon you and in the meanwhile postpone the enquiry proceedings”.
43. That on 31-07-08, the deponent once again agitated before the Enquiry Officer, that he had strong reservations about his appointment as an enquiry officer being illegal, without jurisdiction, malafide and without lawful authority & asked not to fix the enquiry on certain dates due to prior engagements in various Courts including the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Thereafter, the deponent vide letter dated 18-08-08 & 30-8-2008, asked the Enquiry Officer, to intimate the fate of the request made for postponement of the enquiry proceedings & his withdrawal from appointment as Enquiry Officer, being biased & unlawful, without jurisdiction. But neither the enquiry officer replied nor the Respondents No.4 & 5, who were sent copies of these letters took any notice thereof.
44. That despite repeated requests for appointment of an impartial Enquiry Officer, the respondents had not taken any notice thereof. Therefore the deponent was constrained to move a number of letters to Respondent No. 4, on 23-07-08, 24-07-08, 25-07-07, 31-07-08, 21-08-8, 03-09-08, 03-09-08, 17-09-2008, 19-09-2008, 20-09-08, & 21-09-08. None of the above-referred letters were replied to by the respondents copies of which were also endorsed to the Respondents No. 2 & 5. Through these letters the deponent specifically and with logic and justification asked the respondents to appoint impartial & independent Enquiry Officer as well as intimate the fate of the so called enquiry proceedings. Yet the respondents had not bothered to put on record their actual / factual position. Had the respondents in hand the so-called enquiry then definitely they would have supplied the same to the deponent or intimated to the deponent. It is evident form these hard fact that the reference made to the so called enquiry completed on 08-08-2008 and the impugned order dated 08-10-2008 is nothing but a “document” fabricated by the respondents in collusion with the hand picked Enquiry Officer according to their planned conspiracy to remove the from service.
45. That likewise, the deponent also moved before the Respondent No.5, time and again for appointment of independent, competent & impartial enquiry Officer from the Editorial Staff, as per normal practice & traditions of the company set by the Professional Editors for the last six decades. These letters were sent on 02-09-2008 & 19-09-2008. Through, these letters the deponent made it clear to the respondent No. 5 that being a professional Editor, he was supposed to protect the rights of a professional journalist like the deponent. However, the respondent No. 5, with malaise intention neither responded to these letters nor contradicted the contention of the deponent.
46. That the height of the prejudice of Respondent No. 5, against the deponent can be judged from an E-mail sent by him to the Secretary General, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalist, Mr. Mazhar Abbas, dated 10-09-2008 who asked the Respondent No. 5 to provide personal hearing to the deponent, the contents of the same are reproduced verbatim as under: -
“Dear PFUJ Secretary-General,
I am grateful for the kind words expressed for my person and office.
I don0t know if you recall we discussed this issue many months ago when you specially came to raise it with me. I have always believed that journalists should do stores rather than become the subject of stories. When I feared that such a possibility could soon become a reality, I transferred Mr. Naz to Karachi. At the time you told me your advice to him would also be to join in Karachi. I explained my decision to Mr. Naz during the course of a long discussion. I informed him that transferring him to Karachi was not tantamount to a vote of no confidence and, therefore, he should come and join here. Later he phoned me seeking a review of my decision. During this call he shouted at me and accused of me doing things at the management0s bidding. Instead of joining here as his editor was well within his rights to ask him to, he chose to seek legal recourse. I acknowledge he had every right to do this. It will also be his duty to abide by the court ruling.
I am amazed if not insulted that given my track record of nearly 25 years in the profession and the PFUK itself that the PFUJ may be led to believe that I0d be part of any management0s 0conspiracy. 0
Sir, I have tremendous respect for the PFUJ and for your proactive role in reviving it as a viable and forceful voice of the journalistic community. Therefore, I have offered this explanation. You0d appreciate I was under no obligation to do so. I have nothing more to say. My conscience is clear. Abbas Nasir, Editor DAWN”.
The above e-mail was sent by the Respondent No. 5, in response to the e-mail dated 10-09-2008 of PFUJ Secretary – General, Mazhar Abbas, which says as under: -
“This is in reference to the case of Mr. Shamsul Islam Naz, Senior Journalist working for Daily DAWN, in Faisalabad for several years before his services was terminated.
The issue was discussed in the Federal Executive Council (FEC), meeting of the PFUJ, held in Lahore on August 2. Mr Naz is also a Vice-President of the PFUJ and the FEC was concerned over his case. He was of the view that he was victimized and even a professional editor like you did not gave him personal hearing. He said that he never wanted the editor to take side but at least would have listened to his viewpoint as well. Therefore, he felt he was humiliated and the management conspired against him.
The FEC had asked me to write a letter of concern to you and seek your view on the case and would like to know whether there is a possibility that he should at least be heard. We will certainly like to know the facts of the case from the editor’s point of view.”
“PFUJ has expressed confidence that as one of the few professional editors left you will see justice be done with its fellow colleague”. Mazhar Abbas, S.G.”
It is worth mentioning that the Respondent No. 5, for the first time conceded with pride that it was he who ordered deponent‘s transfer from Faisalabad to Karachi and disclosed some “hidden background, which was earlier never brought in black & white. Not only this, the deponent was also blamed for “shouting”, which is infact a proof of malice and inner mind of Respondent No. 5. The biased attitude indicates his grudge and vendetta.
47. That despite strong reservations about the appointment of the Enquiry Officer of undisclosed identity being biased & appointed by an incompetent authority, the Enquiry Officer preferred to go ahead with the enquiry proceedings without any intimation to the deponent about fixation of the date of enquiry, rejecting the request for postponement of the same made by the deponent much before “fixation of date”. It is worth mention that vide letter dated 28-07-2008 the Enquiry Officer asked the deponent to participate in the enquiry on 02-08-2008, at Karachi. This letter was sent on 29.07.2008 which was received on 31.07.2008 to the deponent. However, immediately on receipt of the said direction of the Enquiry Officer the deponent submitted a detailed reply on 31-07-2008 well before fixed date of enquiry at KARACHI, at the will and dictation of the Management, and informed in clear cut terms that the deponent had to participate in an already scheduled meeting of the apex body of journalists, being its vice president, in Lahore, from the 1st Aug. to the 5th Aug. 2008. Not only that, the deponent also intimated certain other dates already fixed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, on 06-10-2008, 12-10-2008 in Islamabad, before Mr. Justice (Retd) Mansoor Ahmad, Chairman, Implementation Tribunal for Newspaper Employees. The very objective of such a detailed reply and non-availability of the deponent for such dates was a move in good faith by the deponent to apprise the Enquiry Officer of his in-availability on the mentioned dates, notwithstanding strong reservations over his questionable appointment as an Enquiry Officer, on the basis of law and facts. Yet the Enquiry Officer never intimated the deponent the fate of the deponet’s request about conducting the enquiry proceedings. Even otherwise, the deponent had also submitted reminders to the enquiry officer for intimating the fate of the deponent’s inquiry & his request for postponement of the enquiry from the announced schedule of 02-08-2008.
48. That the deponent had challenged the validity of the Hon’ble Lahore High Court, Lahore Order dated 17-06-2008 before the August Supreme Court of Pakistan, whereby the appeal of the respondents was accepted and transfer of the deponent from Faisalabad to Karachi was upheld. The August Supreme Court of Pakistan vide interim order dated 30-07-2008 restrained the Respondents from passing any adverse order against the deponent.
49. That the said petition came up for hearing before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of Pakistan on 07-10-2008. But the same was dismissed for non-prosecution, as neither the deponet nor his counsel or Advocate on Record could make appearance before the Supreme Court due to extra ordinary security reasons around the S.C. of Pakistan building, parliament’s Building, Constitutional Avenue & late knowledge of fixation of the case in a supplementary list. Taking advantage of the sudden development, the Respondent No. 3, within 24 hours of the outcome of the fate of the deponent’s petition in the Honorable S.C., issued impugned dismissal order on 08-10-2008 of the deponent from service. This also reflects the clear malafides of the respondent No.3. The deponet has already filed an application before the Hon’ble S.C. of Pakistan for restoration of the original petition, which is still pending for decision.
50. That as per continuous vindictive policy the respondents with malafide intention had also not paid salary from 01-06-2008 to the date of dismissal i.e. 08-10-2008 from service. Besides that, Office rent telephone, electricity charges, petty expenses & (medical bills for over two years including knee operation charges of the deponent’s wife) were not paid, despite submissions of original prescriptions, medicines purchase receipts, clinical, consultants, physicians charges, The respondents did neither make payment of the afore said heads nor communicated objection, if any. It is worth mention that as per terms and conditions of service as well as law the deponent was entitled to the reimbursement / payment of the amount of the said heads. Not only this, the respondents had also not paid the salaries, fringe benefits according to the decisions of the Wage Board Awards, as per functional duties of the deponent and benefits of the 7th Wage Board Award for which the deponent had moved before the Chairman, Implementation Tribunal for Newspaper Employees, Islamabad, which cases are pending for adjudication. Likewise, the respondents had also not paid the Cost of Living Allowance as per entitlement and admissible under the law to the deponent for which the deponent had moved to the Authority appointed under Payment of Wages Act, 1936, which case is subjudice before the Authority.
51. That the way and haste with which the Respondent No. 5 issued the impunged order speaks volumes of malafide of the respondents, and exposes the sanctity of the so called Enquiry Report, copy of which was never supplied to the deponent and was allegedly claimed to be completed on 08-08-2008. However, its compilation ipso facto raised many questions about its validity, authenticity, legality, morality, & impartiality and the mysterious role of the Competent Authority, besides malice and biased attitude of all the respondents who in fact appeared to be in a hurry for accomplishment of their planned operation to get rid of the deponet at any cost at the first available opportunity, without applying their independent judicious mind which is a pre-requisite for such harsh and drastic action of dismissal of any worker from service.
52. That against the aforesaid order of dismissal from service dated 08-10-2008; the deponent served a grievance notice to the respondents, on 06-11-2008.
53. That through a letter dated 18-11-2008 received to the deponent on 24.11.2008 the said grievance notice sent by the deponent was arbitrarily rejected by the Respondent No.3 only & no response from other respondents have been received so far, & the deponent is totally dissatisfied from the said reply hence the deponent filed petition before this learned court for reinstatement in service with all back benefits, including salaries w.e.f. Just 2008 to date, reimbursements of medical bills already submitted to the respondents and expenses on medicinal treatment from date of dismissal to date, reimbursement of office rent, telephone, electric charges, newspapers bills, as per entitlements since June 2008 to date, bonus, arrears of the 7th wage board award since Ist July 2000 to date, COLA, and other lawful benefits outstanding and occur since from the date to dismissal to the date of reinstatement.
54. That the deponent’s dismissal order dated 08-10-2008 is without jurisdiction, unlawful, against the normal practice of the company and apparently an outcome of malice due to involvement of the deponent in trade union activities, being Vice President of the PFUJ & President of the Faisalabad Press Club & refusal to look after the vested interests of the Management in Faisalabad among others, on the following grounds: -
a- That the dismissal order is vindictive and malafide for reasons narrated in the detailed representations/letters and applications submitted by the deponent to the respondents against his unwarranted & uncalled for and malicious transfer from Faisalabad to Karachi.
b- That the deponent was constantly victimized by the respondents for his trade union activities and on many occasions actions were resorted to against him so as to teach him a lesson for participating in the trade union activities.
c- That under an engineered conspiracy to remove the deponent from service, the later was earlier transferred on the basis of the one sided, ultra-wires, defective, fabricated & partial investigation report drawn by Mr. Murtaza Razvi, Resident Editor, Dawn, Lahore, in line with the desires of the respondents to remove the deponent from the Faisalabad scene with ulterior motives as per pre planned conspiracy, with malafide intention.
d- That despite suspension of the transfer order by the learned Labour Court No.4, Faisalabad, and the deponent was never allowed to perform his routine duties because of malafide intention, and was practically made incommunicado giving the impression to the general public and readers of the DAWN as if the deponent was no more in the service of the Dawn.
e- That the deponent submitted a formal leave application, which was acknowledged by the respondents. Therefore, no willful absence from duty can be alleged and further proceedings on such a charge are without any basis. It is worth mention that during more than 25 years of service the deponent was never found absent even for a single day or guilty of any other charge involving inefficiency, incredibility, lack of integrity, incompetence, professional dishonesty, disobedience etc.
f- That the entire proceedings starting from issuance of Show Cause Notice, holding of inquiry, and thereafter dismissal of the deponent from service, were conducted in an extra ordinary haste with malafide intention and visible departure from procedure, law, precedents and judgments of the superior courts.
g- That the deponent never refused to join the enquiry proceedings. He applied for postponement of the inquiry, owing to already scheduled meeting of the PFUJ (FEC), because he had all the intention to participate. The enquiry officer never informed him about his decision of initiating ex-parte proceedings neglecting important procedural requirements of law, nor even intimated the fate of the inquiry proceedings, if any, despite various communications made to him, endorsing copies to the respondents.
h- That the deponent was not afforded opportunity of personal hearing and self defense as required by fundamental rights, equity, natural justice and Quran & Sunnah, without which an enquiry cannot be concluded nor final order can be passed upon one sided, biased, partial & defective enquiry.
i- That the deponent had requested for appointment of an independent and impartial inquiry officer, and also asked the Enquiry Officer to withhold his action of initiation of enquiry proceedings till decision by the competent authority on the request of the deponent for change of the enquiry officer. But the respondents as well as the Enquiry officer took no notice, which indicates malafide intention.
j- That the malafide actions of the respondents from the very beginning can be judged when the deponent was unnecessarily, illegally and unlawfully transferred from Faisalabad to Karachi under the so called pretext of “Exigency of service” as the respondents subjected the deponent to torture on their hidden dislike on trade union activities, although the respondents had ample options to hire the service of a person from Karachi against a post where the undersigned was proposed to be posted malafidely.
k- That it is worth mention that to camouflage the malafide of “exigency of service” stood exposed when a person appointed in the place of the deponent was neither brought from Karachi nor any other station. But a newcomer having no experience of English journalism and not belonging to the company, who was a blue-eyed boy of the Management and who had given an undertaking to the Management to look after its vested interests in Faisalabad, to which the deponent never yielded, was appointed.
l- That the dismissal of the deponent was purely an outcome of bad faith and vindictive attitude of the respondents.
m- That the entire proceedings right from issuance of the show cause notice, appointment of the enquiry officer, and dismissal of the deponent’s were initiated, appointed & passed by incompetent authorities, therefore the same patently void, illegal, arbitrary and an engineered strategy of the respondents evolved to remove the deponent from the Faisalabad scene at any cost, for which all illegal methods and malafide acts were employed.
n- That the deponent was condemned un-heard, and the reply submitted by the deponent in response to the so called show cause notice for alleged absence from duty was never considered by the competent authority, prior to appointment of the Enquiry Officer. Likewise, the request / objection by the deponent for change of the Enquiry Officer, was never considered & granted by the Competent Authority.
o- That despite serious reservations and objection of the deponent on the appointment of the Enquiry Officer, and his request to postpone the enquiry proceedings in view of the already scheduled meeting of the PFUJ in Lahore, the Enquiry Officer did not intimate the fate of the said request of the deponent and never responded to various requests made by the deponent thereafter and intimate the fate of the enquiry or any decision about postponement of the enquiry.
p- That the deponent was never provided the list of charges by the competent authority, list of the witnesses of the prosecution, and copy of report of the self styled enquiry officer.
q- That the so-called show causes notice, order of appointment of the Enquiry Officer, order of dismissal of the deponent from service was not issued by the competent authority. All the above said actions were taken in haste with malice & a biased mind to remove the deponent from service by foul means to satisfy the so called personal ego and personal vendetta of the respondents for one or other reasons, details of which were repeatedly submitted by the deponent to the respondents through various communications which were never controverted.
r- That the order of the Respondent No. 4, dated 08-10-2008 is unjust, illegal and malafide.
s- That the dismissal order has been issued in undue haste and is without jurisdiction and is arbitrary and without lawful authority. The alleged ex-parte enquiry was conducted without serving any charge sheet / show cause notice and without giving time for reply of the same, just to victimize the deponent because of bias and malice of the respondents against the deponent.
t- That the enquiry proceedings were held without giving proper opportunity of defense, and right of personal hearing.
u- That the leave applications submitted were deliberately suppressed and ignored by the Respondents No. 3 & 5, despite availability of accumulated Leave, more than 150, in the deponent’s Leave Account...
v- That the enquiry officer did not issue proper notice & intimation for fixation of enquiry and acted illegally and invalidly, as per desires of the respondent management.
w- That the enquiry officer did not consider applications / correspondence relating to the alleged absence of the deponent and deliberately ignored the same.
x- That there is no valid justification or bonafide reason for dismissal of the deponent from service.
y- That the dismissal order issued against the deponent did not disclose any “good cause” & “explicit reasons” as required by law which is a pre requisite for removing any employee from service & on this ground alone the same is liable to be set aside being illegal and malafide.
z- That before imposing the extreme penalty of dismissal from service, neither any final Show Cause Notice with proposed penalty was issued nor a copy of the ex-prate Inquiry Report was supplied to the deponent to rebut the adverse findings, if any. Nor even an opportunity of personal hearing was allowed to the deponent. The impugned dismissal order is null & void on this short score. (PLD 1996 & 2000 PLC – 99).
aa- That the deponent had more than 25 years meritorious service to his credit & there was no serious charge of corruption, embezzlement or misconduct against him, therefore imposition of impugned extreme penalty of “DISMISSAL FROM SERVICE”, is highly oppressive, harsh unwarranted and patently malafide in nature. The said penalty is also hit by case law pro8ounced by the Honorable Superior Court of this Country as reported in 2006 PLC C.S……. it was held by the S.C….
“in service matter, extreme penalty for minor acts depriving a person from right of earning would defeat the reformatory concept of punishment in administration of justice”.
In 2002 PLC -168…….it was held by the S.C…….
“Punishment should awards be commensurate to the guilt proves”.
bb- That it is settled that “a malafide action is at par with an action taken without jurisdiction. The factum of patent malafide is apparent from the Order/letter of the transfer on the basis of the so called Investigation Report dated 13-06-2006, wherein it was clearly intended to remove the deponent from service”. Relevant portion of the said so called Investigation Report read as under:-
“It is recommended that we check the terms of Mr. Naz’s employment with Dawn and the legal procedure involved in removing him from office”.
55. That the deponent is a workman in the meaning of the IRO W.P. Industrial & Commercial Employment (Standing Orders) Ordnance 1968, which is fully applicable to the respondents, establishment. Besides, the deponent is an employee as defined in the Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1973.
56. That deponent was right from his date of joining to dismissal a whole-time employee and used to visit personally in various areas for getting notes from his own handwriting on a notebook regarding the happening and the event then used to type those on typewriter from his own hand by using his mental capabilities and faculties then send the same through the Central Telegraphic Office (CTO) through telegram to the editorial staff deputed by the respondent No.5. The deponent was also used to sent all type of the news relating to the crimes, health, education, environment, hospitals, forest, buildings, roads, bridges, culture, festivals, press conferences, seminars, workshops, symposium, election activities, demonstrations, processions, debates, airports, dry ports, railway, passports, industries, import, export, customs, civic organizations, WASA, WAPDA, Sui Gas, irrigation, Clubs, Faisalabad Development Authority, Narcotic Control Agency, Shopping centers, bazaar, telephone, communication, highways, research organizations, universities, administrations, semi and government organizations. The deponent used to personally take points, briefs, statistics, acquiring other information from various quarters used to right down by his own handwriting then type on typewriter and send the same firstly by telegram, secondly by telex, fourthly FAX and thereafter through PC internet by email by utilizing mental caliber and concentrations of the mind and using the hand fingers. In the entire process of developing news, articles right from the taking notes the deponent has to fully involve through physical and mind. Apart from above the deponent used to cover all type of the political reporting, analysis, comments of important events, gathering, public meetings of the politicians, religious organizations as per assignment issued by the respondent No. 5 and deputed staff from time to time. The deponent having no hire and fire power, nor having any type of administrative powers or subordinates. The deponent was never ever charge sheeted on account of any violation of rules, regulations, law rather always appreciated by his seniors.
57. That the deponent is jobless ever since his illegal & malafide dismissal from service served till to date & is entitled to reinstatement in service with full back benefits, including salaries w.e.f. Just 2008 to date, reimbursements of medical bills already submitted to the respondents and expenses on medicinal treatment from date of dismissal to date, reimbursement of office rent, telephone, electric charges, newspapers bills, as per entitlements since June 2008 to date, bonus, arrears of the 7th wage board award since 1st July 2000 to date, COLA, and other lawful benefits outstanding and occur since from the date to dismissal to the date of reinstatement.
58. That cause of action arose to the deponent at Faisalabad as the Show Cause Notice was served upon the deponent at Faisalabad. Likewise, appointment order of the so-called enquiry officer was also served upon the deponent at Faisalabad and the dismissal order from service was also served & received at Faisalabad. The reply of the Grievance Notice was also served & received at Faisalabad. Hence this honorable court has jurisdiction to adjudicate the petition of the deponent.
59. That whatever stated hereinabove is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.
60. That dismissal order dated 08-10-2008, of the deponent is illegal, malafide, arbitrary, without jurisdiction, against law, facts, ultravires, void abinitio & the deponent and petition of the deponent as per law and facts is in order from all aspects and the deponents who remained out of job till from the illegal dismissal, deserves reinstatement in service with all outstanding dues, reimbursements of the bills and lawful back benefits including salary, bonus, leave encashment medical bills etc.
61. That the preliminary objections and written statement of the respondent is against the facts, law, record, frivolous, and be turned down and rejected accordingly.
SHAMSUL ISLAM NAZ
PETITIONER
V E R IF I C A T I O N
| Verified that the contents of the affidavit from Para No. 1 to Para No. 61 and grounds of sub paras a to z & bb are correct to the best my knowledge, belief & nothing has been concealed. | |
PETITIONER
Dated 28.09.2009
