The Lahore High Court Chief Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed on Monday issued a notice to the federal government and ministry of petroleum on petition challenging the recent increase in petroleum prices and sought a reply from the two respondents till March 16. On behalf of Mohammad & Ahmad, a public interest litigation company, this petition had been filed. The petitioner counsel Azhar Siddique stated that the government had been increasing the price of petroleum products after short intervals, which had caused the price hike of other related items, which in the counsel’s opinion was unjust to the people.
He stated that a petition was pending in which he had prayed that the government should be directed to give details about the method of determination for revising the petroleum products vis-à-vis cost of production and cost of supply including charging of different levies, duties and taxes and further disbursement of above collections to the different heads. He further prayed that the petitioner be directed to supply with the audited accounts of all the respondents connected with the production and supply of the petroleum products specifying the details of categories, with complete profit and loss accounts through certified audited accounts.
He submitted that the government had not provided details in his earlier petition and had again increased the prices. He requested the government to provide the details of the all increases, which had been carried out during their tenure. He also requested to issue a stay order against the recent increase in prices.
SHUMAILA’S ‘SEAT-CASE’: The Lahore High Court on Monday asked former PML-N lady MPA Shumaila Rana to file a concise fact sheet till March 29 in her petition pending court for restoration of her seat in the Punjab Assembly.
Justice Umar Ata Bandial passed the order on a petition filed by Shumaila Rana against de-seating her from the provincial assembly. She said a false case had been registered against her on July 12, 2009 when she had been an MPA. After registration of FIR, the petitioner and her family members were threatened by the petitioner’s own party PML-N to resign from the MPA seat, she said.
Shumaila asserted that the above said party members pressurised her into writing her resignation and due to the immense pressure she wrote the same on July 24, 2009 which was grabbed by a politician of PML-N and subsequently presented in the Punjab Assembly.
She submitted that the Punjab Assembly Speaker had accepted her resignation and subsequently Punjab Assembly Secretary had issued a notification in this regard.
However, she said that the trial court had acquitted her from the charges on March 1, 2010. She stated that PA speaker and secretary acted in the violation of rule 35 of procedure of Punjab Assembly whereby, it was the duty of speaker to inquire about resignation but no such inquiry had been held in her case. She prayed the court to set aside the impugned notification and restore her membership.
WHERE’S THE HAJJ POLICY 2012?: The Chief justice Lahore High Court on Monday asked religious affairs federal secretary to file a reply till March 16 on a petition seeking formulation of transparent Hajj Policy 2012 without further in delay in issuing it and allocation of quota to tour operators on merit.
The petition was filed by Azhar Siddique advocate under article 19-A for making the Hajj Policy 2011 transparent, allocation of quota to tour operators on equal distribution method lowering down of package of Hajj and details of amounts amassed by the ministry of religious affairs for the sacred duty of Hajj.
The petitioner pleaded that Hajj had become an industry for the vested interest groups and they eyed profit on provision of sacred service of the pilgrims intending to travel for Hajj or Umra. He said the ministry was delaying the Hajj Policy 2012 as it had done the previous year. He said the previous year when he had had challenged the Hajj Policy the ministry told the court that there had been no time left for revising the policy and now again the policy was being delayed. He said the ministry was robbing the pilgrims in the name of house, fake insurance and several other charges. He said last year amount an about of Rs 80 million had been collected from the pilgrims under various heads, like rent of apartments in Saudia and insurance, etc.
He said since the culture of private hajj operators started the ministry has started making decisions on the personal likes and dislikes and that the blue-eyed operators were obliged with quotas and others were being abandoned. The court sought the reply after hearing arguments from the petitioner counsel and adjourned the case till March 16.
SENATE ELECTIONS
CHALLENGED: A petition has been moved in the Supreme Court’s Lahore Registry praying to set aside the results of recent senate elections on account of open sale and purchase of votes and to pass an order to repeal article 224 of the constitution.
The petition was filed by Barrister Zafar Ullah Khan contending that during the senate elections the political parties and the government paid millions of rupees worth of bribes to parliamentarians to get their votes in violating the constitution.
He also said the recent authorisation of Election Commission of Pakistan under article 224 to appoint prime minister and chief ministers of provinces was against good sense and political insight and thus should be done away with. He prayed to the court to set aside the results of the elections and repeal the article 224 of the constitution to stop the violation of basic human rights of the countrymen.
