A single bench of the Lahore High Court, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, issued notices on Wednesday to the provincial secretary labour and secretary environment, and sought reply from them in a writ petition filed against the incidents of factory infernos in Lahore and Karachi in September last year.
The petition was filed by Chaudhry Shoaib Saleem Advocate through Mushtaq Ahmad Mohal Adovate and Syed Aslam Rizvi Advocate.
Appearing on the behalf of petitioner, the counsels argued that the respondents were legally bound to enact laws for establishing clean environment and installation of fire exits in each industrial building/factory, however, they had committed criminal negligence as they did not take any effective measure for controlling and reducing the pollution and killings in fire incidents in industrial units and factories.
It had become imperative for all factories in the country to undergo regular inspection, they said.
They argued that factory workers were denied their basic rights enshrined under Articles 2-A, 3, 4, 5, 9, 11, 14 and 15 of the constitution. They were denied even the basic rights guaranteed in labour laws and international conventions, they added.
Those who were not employed as per regulations had no claim to compensation even in cases accidents and deaths, they further pleaded.
The counsels prayed the court to direct the respondents to take strict action against the culprits who were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people in the fire accidents and to compensate the heirs of the victims.
The counsels prayed that respondents be directed to constitute a high power judicial commission to review the performance of the departments responsible for enforcing the labour, industrial and environmental laws across the country.
Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah accepted the petition and issued notices to the provincial secretary labour and secretary environment and sought reply from the defendants on March 1, 2013.
