KARACHI: Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has got a standing order from the Lahore High Court (LHC) against the meeting of the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) which has been convened on October 1 to discuss the issues relating to the implementation of the national sports policy, well-placed sources told ‘The News’ on Thursday.
A top PFF official refused to confirm that it was a stay order, but said he thought it was a standing order by the Lahore High Court where the federation had filed a writ petition against the decision of the Board and the implementation of the sports policy, especially its tenure-restriction clause.
“The court order is with our lawyer and I have not seen its copy as yet and will tell you about the clear situation tomorrow. But as far as I know about the legal aspects, it could be a standing order which could bar the Pakistan Sports Board from taking any decision on the subject unless the court gives its final decision,” PFF secretary Col Ahmad Yar Khan Lodhi said.
A legal expert said that a standing order is a sort of indirect stay order as the subject cannot be discussed in the meeting and no decision can be taken until the court’s verdict.
‘The News’ has learnt that the next hearing will be held on October 3. “It is not yet known when the court will decide the matter,” Lodhi said.
A well-informed source said that the federal minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani has ordered his subordinates to cancel the October 1 meeting.
Those invited to the meeting are secretaries of national sports federations, provincial sports secretaries, sports ministers and chairmen of WAPDA, PIA and Capital Development Authority (CDA).
Sources said that the POA chief Lt Gen (retd) Arif Hasan had also been invited initially, but the invitation was withdrawn because he had completed his two tenures as the POA chief.
Sources said that the decision to omit POA chief seemed to be a violation of the court order because the PSB had admitted in writing before the Lahore High Court that POA was not affiliated with it.
Meanwhile, POA chief Arif Hasan has advised all federations to follow the charter of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), telling them that they themselves should amend their constitutions. Changing the constitutions on the directions of others would be wrong, he said.
Arif told the federations that their constitutions were supreme and even he could not force them to amend the documents.
Sources said that the POA received a letter on September 26 from the IPC joint secretary Abdul Ghaffar Khan, which asks them to respond by September 24.
Moreover, the contents in the letter also could not be read clearly.
The PSB and the POA are at loggerheads over the implementation of the national sports policy following the May 8 Supreme Court order which stated that the government had the powers to frame rules and implement them.
Source: The News