Islamabad High Court (IHC) Tuesday issued notices to the Federation and principal secretary to Prime Minister over a plea challenging Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif's recent announcement to distribute cash awards of Rs 215 million among national cricket team on winning ICC Champions Trophy 2017. Advocate Tariq Asad has invoked the jurisdiction of Islamabad High Court under Article 199, making the Federation through secretary Ministry of Sports and Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif through his principal secretary as respondents in the matter.
The petitioner raised question that under which law the Prime Minister has decided to distribute taxpayers' money among the cricket team players and board officials, adding that he requested the court to issue stay order in order to bar the Prime Minister from distributing the cash awards. He apprised the court that cricket players get various benefits as they receive monthly salaries from Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), match fees and various other benefits.
"Pakistan team has won Champions Trophy for which all the players deserve tributes but distributing public treasury in an extravagant manner is not in public interest and not in accordance with the law," the petitioner contended. Tariq Asad argued that instead such a huge amount may be utilised for public welfare in social sector in the country, saying if the awarded cash is to be spent on sports/cricket then the best way is to spend it on promoting cricket which is the objective of PCB constitution. After hearing contentions of the petitioner, a single-member bench of Justice Amir Farooq issued the notices to the respondents and adjourned the petition sine die.