Auction of riverbeds: PHC admits contempt petition against DC

commissioner of Chitral and an assistant director of mining department on a contempt petition filed by Mehtar of Chitral Saiful Mulk Ali Nasir. Mehtar had approached the high court against the decision of the district administration to float tenders for auctioning mining/extraction of sand and gravels from Shotar (barren land along rivers) in different parts of Chitral after declaring them as state property. On the petition of the Mehtar, the high court had directed the deputy commissioner, Irshad Sodhar, and AD mining department Omer Hassan not to float tenders without removing the reservations of the Mehtar who claimed to be the owner of the land. However, the district administration went ahead with the auction process. As a result, the Mehtar approached the high court again. The court accepted the contempt petition and issued summons to the respondents with the date to be fixed by the court office.]]>