Supreme Court orders forensic audit of shrine donations

LAHORE: A Supreme Court bench Sunday ordered forensic audit of the utilization of shrine donations in Punjab province.

According to reports, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar issued a court order while hearing the case at Lahore registry pertaining to use of collections at different shrines in the province.

Addressing to Auqaf department officials, the CJP remarked that people donate their hard-earned money to shrines but “you people doling it out without any proper usage.”

The prosecutor informed the court that Rs 820 million were collected at shrines in Punjab. The bench said the money should be used for extending better facilities to visitors at shrines.

The prosecutor informed that the donation money was spent on salaries and pensions of the employees at the shrines.

The CJP inquired who was the minister of Auqaf. He was told that the government had not yet appointed minister and the director general was heading the department. He questioned when the Auqaf secretary last visited the Data Darbar and what measures he had taken for betterment of the shrine.

The secretary answered he had visited Data Darbar six days ago and they were looking into different issues.

The CJP again inquired from secretary about his visits to other shrines during the last six months. Rejecting official report, the CJP ordered forensic audit of donations spending.