LHC stops CS orders on Al Falah Cinema

LAHORE: Justice Nasim Sikandar of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday suspended the Punjab chief secretary’s order whereby he had restrained the Al Falah Cinema’s contractor from running the cinema hall as a theatre.

The LHC after admitting a petition against the order also issued notice to the chief secretary besides directing him to submit his reply in the next hearing. Petitioner Malik Tariq submitted that he had got a contractual agreement of running the cinema for 10 years. He said last year he got permission from the CS to convert the cinema building into a theatre. He said he had spent lavishly on the renovation of the building to make it look like a theatre, but all of a sudden on May 28, this year the CS withdrew the permission.

The counsel for the Punjab government said the CS withheld the decision in light of an objection by Chairman Pakistan Film Association Mian Amjad Farzand, who feared that the conversion of the cinema into theatre would be a big blow to the film industry.

Mr Tariq’s counsel said Al Falah Cinema was known for showing English movies and therefore the film industry could not be threatened by its conversion into theatre. —Staff Report

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