The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday dismissed a writ petition seeking directions to lift ban on kite flying, observing that courts cannot permit license to kill in the name of Basant festival, as it is a dangerous activity. The court passed these orders in a petition filed by a trader of kite flying material Sohail Ansari.
Earlier, Punjab government through its chief secretary submitted a report in the court, revealing that Punjab prohibition of Kite Flying Ordinance 2001, as amended in 2007 & 2009 was made in line with the Supreme Court's order and apex court had acknowledged this fact.
The law does not violate fundamental rights rather it aimed at protecting and safeguarding security of person and right to property as enshrined in the Constitution, report added. Government has been closely monitoring kite-flying activities and on the basis of past experience, it is found that permission of kite flying is against public interest, as it involved loss of life and property, report continued. During the period of 2006-09, 18 people lost their lives due to kite flying, while 24 others were badly injured.
Wapda accrued revenue losses to the tune of Rs 5 billion, while damages to system of grid stations were Rs 57 million, said the report. It would be unfair to leave entire community at the mercy of a group of persons involved in the business of kite flying, report concluded. The petitioner had pleaded that this law was amended on the directions of Supreme Court but the apex court directions were not followed in letter and spirit while bringing changes in the law.
He pointed out that SC had ordered to hear point of view of all stakeholders before amending the law but the authority concerned did not implement it. The petitioner argued that the people who had played active role in brining changes in the law had no knowledge about material being used in making of twine (Dorr).
He said SC had also ordered provincial governments to ensure protection of lives and properties of citizen but the government instead of taking such steps, banned kite flying and making of related material despite the fact that livelihood of thousands of people is linked with this business. The petitioner had prayed to the court to strike down prohibition of kite flying ordinance to allow thousands of people to earn bread and butter for their children.