‘So you were supposed to control dengue?’

Chief justice Lahore High Court, Sh Azmat Saeed, on Monday, issued notices for April 26 to Punjab government and other respondents for their failure to control Dengue epidemic in Punjab.
After hearing arguments by the petitioner counsel the court admitted the petition for regular hearing and sought a report from the provincial, district government, secretary health, DCO and chief secretary Punjab. The petitioner counsel informed the court that the government did not take all the recommended steps to prevent the spread of dengue epidemic which is resulting in breaking out of the disease, posing threats to the lives of people.
The petition was filed by advocate, Azhar Siddique , chairman judicial activism penal, a public interest litigant organization, contending that the district government and the Punjab government had failed to kill dengue larva and the epidemic had returned to the city with fresh growth of the deadly dengue mosquitoes.
The petitioner raised questions through the petition about government’s responsibilities regarding protection of life of citizens under article 9 of the constitution. He said the government did not spray good quality pesticides in the city and hence the renewed dengue epidemic is just around the corner. The petitioner pleaded that new cases of dengue virus had been identified as patients had started pouring into hospitals with fever symptoms.
He prayed to the court to direct the government to take preventive measures to protect the lives of people from the epidemic and seek a report on what it had done so far to avoid the situation like the previous year when hundreds of patients lost their lives at the hands of the dengue virus. He said that though many hundreds patients died of the dengue virus last year, the government still did not take needed precautionary measures to prevent its spread again.
Meanwhile the Lahore High Court on Monday issued notices to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for May 8, on a petition seeding court directions for de-notification of PML- N MNA Rao Mazhar Hayat for having a fake BA degree. The court also sought a report from the ECP and other respondents in the matter till next date of hearing. Justice Umar Ata Bandial, passed the order on a petition filed by Arshad Ibrahim and Javed Badr, political rivals of the MNA. During proceedings, petitioners’ counsel stated that Rao Mazhar Hayat contested the last general election in 2008 from constituency of NA-138, Kasur and won it. However, they filed a complaint application against him in ECP because he had a fake degree and demanded de-notification of the election results and his disqualification from the seat of MNA.
The petitioners submitted that the ECP found the degree “phoney” after verification and it sent a letter to the Kasur sessions judge that ordered DPO, Khurram Ali Shah, for the registration of a case against Rao. He said police registered a case under section 199,200 and 471 of CrPC. He pleaded the court to issue directions to de-notify Rao Mazhar Hayat from the national assembly membership due to his fake degree.
The court after hearing arguments issued notice to ECP and other respondents, and sought a report by May 8.