Gas theft case against LHCBA café contractor

Staff Report

LAHORE: The Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) on Monday cut off supply to the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) and got a case registered against Javed Qureshi, the bar cafeteria contractor, for stealing gas and non-payment of over hundreds of thousands rupees in bills.

The gas supply was later restored after the intervention of Lahore High Court chief justice. The contractor has not been arrested.

SNGPL authorities claimed that the gas theft at the bar canteen had been going on for seven years, but no permission was being granted to them to inspect the spot.

The SNGPL general manager requested the Lahore High Court chief justice to allow them to visit the spot. The chief justice granted the permission on Saturday on which a SNGPL team inspected the bar cafeteria and found that gas was being stolen by the cafeteria contractor. The pipe supplying gas to the bar was pulled out, as a result of which gas supply to the offices of lawyers was also disconnected. The SNGPL authorities lodged a case against the contractor at Old Anarkali police.

A LHCBA delegation led by vice president Dr Akmal Saleemi met the chief justice. Dr Saleemi said that the chief justice allowed the bar gas supply for further two weeks to let the cafeteria contractor make his own arrangement in the meantime.

The LHCBA president, Justice (r) Fakharunnisa Khokhar, said that SNGPL claimed that gas was being stolen for seven years but it was strange that the action has been taken now. She said that she would inform the chief justice of Pakistan about the situation.

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