LAHORE: The Lahore High Court will hear on Friday (today) a petition challenging conversion of the Punjab Mineral Development Corporation into a private limite d company by the chief minister.

`Punjab chief minister approved conversion of the corporation into a private limited company in a meeting held on Oct 27, 2017, just to accommodate his cronies and favourite bureaucratsasheadofthe companies who are already being paid in millions,` alleges the petition.

Naveed Khan, a lawyer, filed the petition through Advocate Chaudhry Shoaib Saleem naming the chief minister, chief secretary and secretary mines & minerals department as respondents.

The petitioner contends that the corporation established under The Punjab Minerals Development Corporation Act 1975, having more than 400 regular employees, never received any budget from the provincial government since itsinception. Instead it had been generating revenue for the government, he says.

He says only during the year of 2016-17, the corporation paid sales tax of Rs65.352 million, income tax of Rs16.886 million and EOBI Rs3.104 million.

He points out that as per section 18 of the Act, the corporation already has the mandate to form and establish companies to manage and run projects established by it but the chief minister approved conversion of the corporation into a private limited company against the constitutional scheme, especially Article 140-A read with Article 32 of the Constitution.

The petitioner submits that high court is already seized with a petition against establishment of 56 companies in the province and more than 10 companies have been closed during the recent past either due to illegalities or inef ficiencies.

He asks the court to declare the conversion of the corporation into a private company illegal and in violation of the constitutional scheme.