The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a forensic report on the donations collected at the shrines from the provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory.
According to 24NewsHD, Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed remarked that the donations should be spent for religious purposes, adding that the money was being used to disburse the salaries of the Auqaf Department’s employees in Punjab.
The department should make some other arrangements for the purpose as the said money couldn’t be utilised for salaries, he observed.
However, when the counsel, Faisal Chaudhry, argued that the donation money was used for renovating the shrines, Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan questioned his reply.
The chief justice remarked that the Auqaf officials were collecting the donations by the people who gave the money for fulfilling their desires and prays.
The amount, he added, could have been used for building hospitals, educational institutions and orphanages.
The chief justice observed that the people were in the habit of consuming everything.
As the counsel suggested that the donation money was also being utilised for issuing dowry fund, the chief justice observed that too would have been misused.
Justice Ijaz noted that the state was the custodian of the donation amount, while the chief justice remarked that the Auqaf officials considered the donations as Man-o-Salwa.
Later, the apex court adjourned the further hearing of the matter for two weeks.