LAHORE: The Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar on Saturday warned the Punjab top bureaucracy to abstain from locking down offices or resorting to protest and asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) not to harass anyone.
Hearing several suo motu notices on various public welfare issues, the chief justice, who was heading a three-member bench, observed that no bureaucrat would boycott offices in protest, adding in return, the NAB should also refrain from causing harassment to anyone. The chief justice seemed annoyed over the strike of the civil servants in favour of Cheema and the resolution of Punjab Assembly against NAB.
He questioned how the resolution was passed in favour of Cheema in the Punjab Assembly. “In this way, the resolution can [also] be tabled to stop the Supreme Court from summoning someone,” he said. The chief justice asked on what basis the resolution against NAB was passed in the assembly, asking to table a similar resolution against the top court also. “The political masters and bosses are capable of it,” he said.
The chief justice said whosoever wanted to resign should do so immediately. “Then he would be at liberty to go out on streets to launch a protest campaign against anyone. The service rules of the civil servants don’t allow them to launch protest campaigns,” he added. He asked the bureaucrats to stay away from protesting against the arrest of Cheema, stating that no government official shall boycott their offices in protest and the persons summoned by NAB should appear before the anti-corruption watchdog.
Justice Mansoor Ahmad Malik and Justice Ijazul Ahsan were the other members of the bench. Punjab Chief Secretary Zahid Syed and LDA Director General Zahid Akhtar Zaman also appeared before the bench. During the hearing, the chief justice asked the LDA DG about the process of entering into contract with the private companies for development work. To which, Zaman said according to the law, LDA is in partnership with six companies. The chief justice sought the details of the owners and shareholders of the six companies. Upon being asked who the DG was when these contracts were made, Zaman said it was Cheema.
He then turned to the chief secretary and asked about Cheema’s income and incentives, to which the chief secretary disclosed that Cheema had been receiving around Rs125,000 as public servant, and was also getting nearly Rs 1.4 million from the public sector company’s employment. At this, the chief justice summoned details of Cheema’s service profile, salary, perks and incentives and the record of the Paragon City. The top court also sought the details of Paragon City in connection with the LDA City scam.
While hearing a suo motu notice into the disposal of medical waste from the public hospitals of Lahore as well as discharge of untreated water into River Ravi, the chief justice ordered the FIA to conduct probe into awarding of contract for collecting hospital waste to a private person and submit a preliminary report in 15 days.
The court-appointed commission comprising Ayesha Hamid submitted a report on the matter. She informed that the military hospital of Lahore failed to reply when asked about the waste disposal measures. At this, the chief justice sought a report from surgeon general. When asked, the chief secretary informed the apex court that since 2011, a private company had been outsourced to collect the medical waste from the city's public hospitals. This irked the CJP and he remarked that a contract of millions of rupees has been dished out to a blue-eyed who was only a matriculate. The court also asked the environment and health secretaries to cooperate with FIA to probe the matter.
About disposing untreated water into River Ravi, Ayesha said 540 million gallon water was being dumped into the river on a daily basis. She pointed out that the Punjab government has decided to install treatment plants at four different points of Lahore. The chief justice questioned why the government only becomes active in resolving the issue when the courts intervene and remarked they were in the government for 10 years but no one bothered to install plants, adding that health and education are not on the government's priority list.“Instead, millions of rupees are being spent on personal advertisement,” he remarked.
Hearing a suo motu notice on the sale of substandard bottled water, the Supreme Court ordered to shut down the companies which are selling substandard product. The chief justice showed displeasure over non-appearance of the court-appointed commission Mustafa Ramday and remarked that he had never come to the court to assist in such an importance issue. He (Ramday) preferred to stay at chief minister house most of the time, he said, directing the advocate general to ensure his appearance on the next date of hearing. The Punjab Food Authority DG Noorul Amin informed the apex court that 1,150 companies were registered in Punjab. Of these, 1,053 were producing bottled water, of which the product of 340 did not adhere to safety standards, he added. The chief justice asked if the minerals advertised on the water bottles are actually present, and observed that they cannot let children consume water infected with hepatitis.
Also on Saturday, the Supreme Court turned down a plea moved by some dry-milk manufacturing companies against the condition of printing “it is not milk” on the milk packets, observing “no compromise on edibles”. Representing Nestle Company, a lawyer said dry milk is not the alternative to loose milk but the dry milk is being manufactured with all the required nutrients including lactogen 1, while maintaining international standards. The formula had all the ingredients required for children health, the counsel argued and added that the cows’ loose milk was the source of dry milk and therefore there should be no restriction on printing that "it is not milk" on the packs.
At this, the CJP observed that milk is a great blessing of God and if the manufacturing companies could not print “it is not milk” on their packs they could put a ban on them and order confiscation of their stocks. “No one can stop us from banning the formula milk,” the CJP remarked. The court sought detailed reply from the respondent company and adjourned further hearing until March 09.
Meanwhile, in yet another case the acting VC of University of Health Sciences Prof Dr Faisal Masood told the Supreme Court that no contamination was found in the samples of broiler chicken’s meat randomly taken from different parts of Lahore. He stated that the problem was with the unhygienic handling of the meat by chicken sellers. He maintained that the meat was not contaminated. When asked about the steps for cleanliness at the chicken selling shops, Mengal said strict actions had been taken.
The chief justice adjourned the hearing till March 9 and also directed the chief secretary to ensure Dr Masood was not transferred to anywhere as the court direly needed his expertise in such cases. A committee comprising Salman Akram Raja and Uzair Bhandari would submit a report about the test carried out on the poultry feed. The bench would discuss that report on the next hearing.
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