LAHORE - The Lahore High Court Chief Justice took strict notice of Punjab government’s style of disgracing judicial orders on Tuesday and remarked that no one would be allowed to make mockery of the courts.
The court observed that the provincial government did not respect the judiciary and did not bother to implement orders.
The chief Justice was hearing contempt petition of Inspector Muhmmad Sarwar and some
DSPs seeking promotion and another one from residents of Kachi Abaadi, Town Ship.
In the hearing for the contempt petition, Punjab Inspector General of police Haji Habib- ur-Rehman flanked by other officers appeared in the court. The court inquired about progress in the case and implementation of the court directions.
The IG replied that he had recently taken charge of the position and was unaware of the details regarding the promotion case.
He requested the court to allow him more time to review the promotion cases pending for many months.
The CJ admonished him for giving such a statement and said that the court had clearly directed to implement orders but the provincial police chief had not bothered to obey.
“The Punjab government does not respect the court by implementing its decisions and, now the bureaucracy is following suit. No one will be allowed to play games with the courts,” CJ further observed adding that everyone should recognise that the court knows how to implement its orders.
The CJ ordered the IG police to submit a comprehensive report regarding the promotio cases of all Deputy Superintendents of Police pending in the department.
The CJ also directed the LHC registrar office to combine all the promotion cases of police officials, pending before different benches of LHC, for their hearing before him. The court will resume hearing on April 18.
In the second case, the residents of Town Ship had informed the court that the Punjab government had in 2007 suspended the notification of Kachi Abadi in the said area without giving concrete reasons. The residents requested the court to cancel the suspension notification.
Interestingly, the case has been pending in the LHC for four years but the government law officers kept obtaining adjournments by submitting unclear statements in the courts.
During the course of hearing on Tuesday, the law officers of Punjab government, City District Government and Lahore Development Authority tried their best to persuade the CJ that the notification had been issued on merit.
The CJ observed that a four minute case had not been decided for the last four years. “I don’t know what kind of language the Punjab government understands? The government is making mockery of the court orders which will not be tolerated at any cost” the CJ observed.
The CJ rejected the contentions of government law officers and summoned the District Coordination Officer Lahore, Director General LDA and Director General Punjab KachAbadies on April 24.