ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday disposed of a petition challenging the purported privatisation of Roosevelt Hotel as deputy attorney general informed the court that hotel was not being sold or privatised.
He, however, stated that the government was intending to run the hotel through joint-venture to make it a profitable entity.
A single-member bench of Justice Aamer Farooq heard the petition regarding Roosevelt Hotel owned by the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in New York.
Justice Aamer remarked that "whether Pakistan is facing shortage of talent and chartered accountants that the national asset is being handed over to foreigners."
He added that it is not the issue of an individual, rather it is matter of national asset.
He asked whether the PIA does not have such experienced people who could make the hotel profitable. He made it clear that the government should not keep in view the interest of a single person or a company. The DAG assured the court that merit would be maintained, while carrying out a joint venture to run the hotel.
He added that the interest of any persons or company would not be kept in mind in this joint venture. He told the court that the hotel has been facing losses for the last two years. Later, the IHC bench disposed of the case, saying that the court would issue appropriate directions in the verdict. The petitioner requested the court to restrain the government from privatizing the Roosevelt Hotel owned by the PIA in New York. Lawyer Sharif Sabir filed the petition against the reported "plans" of the PTI-led federal government of Pakistan to privatize the asset of the national airline in the heart of the global commercial and tourism hub in New York, US, through his counsel Mian Ghaffar, and adopted the stance that an effort had been made by every government in the past to sell or privatise the Roosevelt Hotel.
He cited Finance Adviser Hafeez Shaikh, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfiqar Bukhari, Federal Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan and Secretary Aviation as respondents.
The petitioner stated that Zulfiqar Bukhari wanted to "buy the entity through his front-man at a lower cost".
It further said that Bukhari due to his closeness with the premier wanted to derive benefit through a specific group.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020