The Lahore High Court on Thursday overruled an objection by the registrar’s office to a petition demanding that vacant judges’ posts in the court be filled and took it up as an “objection case”.
The registrar had objected to the maintainability of the petition, saying that Article 175-A of the Constitution stated the procedure for the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts.
Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh directed the registrar’s office to fix the petition for hearing on an appropriate date.
Advocate AK Dogar filed the petition stating that litigants were facing immense problems due to the shortage of judges in the LHC. He said the non-availability of judges was slowing the dispensation of justice.
The petitioner asked the court to order the vacant posts to be filled without delay.
Govt given another week to produce inquiry reports
Justice Muhammad Khalid Mehmood Khan of the Lahore High Court has given the government another week to submit two inquiry reports on the measles outbreak in the province earlier this year.
The LHC had instructed the Punjab government to present one of the inquiry reports at Thursday’s hearing, but a government lawyer and the Health Department director general appeared before the court and sought another week’s time.
The inquiries were conducted by Prof Dr Zafar Iqbal of Shaikh Zayed Hospital, on the instructions of the LHC, and Prof Dr Faisal Masood of King Edward Medical College, on the instructions of the chief minister.
The Health Department director general said that the report prepared by Dr Masood had been presented to the chief minister.
The judge observed that the matter was a public health issue concerning children so it was important that the government not delay bringing the facts to light.
The petitioner, Azhar Siddique of the Judicial Activism Panel, has asked the LHC to affix blame among government officials for the measles outbreak, which killed over a hundred children.
He said that the outbreak was a result of the government’s failure to conduct measles vaccination drives for several years.
He also asked the court to direct the federal and provincial government to establish an authority focusing solely on preventing disease outbreaks.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2013.