The Lahore High Court on Tuesday summoned the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority director general to court on a petition against the import of alleged substandard Carbon Dioxide from India.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that the Ministry of Commerce had illegally allowed another company to import carbon dioxide gas from India last year. The counsel argued that the gas was a restricted item that could not be imported. The petitioner said the ministry’s permission to import gas contravened the Import Policy Order 2013.
He said the gas had been imported from India through the Wagha border. It did not meet the requirements set by the Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority as there was no mechanism to check its standard at the Wagha border.
He said substandard imported gas was being supplied to the beverage industry which may cause serious health problems among the masses.
The petitioner said that the gas was not fit for human consumption as food-quality gas should be stored and transported in ISO tankers. He said these vessels were not available at the Wagha border, neither had the competent authority issued a transportation certificate for it.
He requested the court to declare the permission to import carbon dioxide from India illegal and restrain the federal government from granting such permissions in future.
A deputy attorney general told the court that there had been no written complaint against the gas so far.
The court will resume hearing on March 19 (today).
Hearing on Sharif family assets adjourned
LAHORE. A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday heard arguments on several appeals challenging the ‘unfair’ division of inherited assets within the Sharif family.
The appeals have been waiting adjudication since 1993-94 and have been filed by several members of the Sharif family. Late Mian Sharif, father of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, and six of his brothers had reached an agreement about the division of property. However, one of the brothers, Mian Waheed, challenged the division before the court and later all brothers joined the litigation.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Advocate Ali Sibtain Fazli spoke on behalf of Mian Waheed. He said the family had not divided the ancestral property fairly and had violated relevant laws. He asked the court to order a fair division of the family’s assets.
The bench comprising Justice Ayesha A Malik and Justice Shahzada Mazhar adjourned hearing till April 23 and sought arguments from the counsel for Siraj, Miraj and Aziz families.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 19th, 2014.