SC assured no personal ads will be displayed on uplift projects

ISLAMABAD: The federal and provincial governments Thursday assured the Supreme Court that no personal advertisements would be given on public development projects.

A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faiz Isa, heard the case. Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Naeem Akhtar Afgan were the bench members. The federal and provincial governments also assured the court that its judgment would be implemented in letter and spirit.

After the assurance, the court directed them to submit an affidavit on the next date of hearing that no personal advertisements would be given on public development projects. It is pertinent to mention that the court in 2023 had issued a judgment on the issue Justice Isa said there was no opposition over the issue and every province was united against personal publicity. The chief justice expressed concern about the 80 law officers in Sindh and inquired how many law officers were in Sindh province. He said despite a battalion of law officers in Sindh, there was no permanent law officer posted in Islamabad. To a query, the law officers of the provinces informed the court that 18 law officers were posted in Balochistan, 40 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 86 in Punjab. The chief justice observed that Punjab, the largest province in terms of population, had 86 law officers while Sindh had 80 law officers. The counsel for the Punjab government told the court that they were slashing the strength to 66. The chief justice said every law officer of Sindh was given a monthly salary of Rs500,000. “Four crore rupees per month alone go from the pockets of people of Sindh to the pockets of law officers but despite this we do not get any better assistance from them,” the CJP remarked. He said the law officers appear through video links but their voice was not heard properly. “We don’t want to interfere in government affairs but tell us what sin the poor people have committed to suffer this state of affairs,” the chief justice asked adding that they wanted to strengthen democracy. Later, the court adjourned the hearing for two weeks.