LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan on Thursday issued contempt notices to chief secretary, home secretary and secretary law Punjab for august 26 and directed them to explain as to why commissioners, additional, deputy and assistant commissioners in Punjab kept on using judicial powers in presence of a court's stay order.
Chief Justice on July 09 had suspended a notification of Punjab government which conferred judicial powers upon executive officers. Earlier, a provincial law officer informed the court that government had withdrawn the impugned notification in compliance with court's order.
CJ observed that a stay order was issued in the presence of the law officer but order was not followed deliberately. He questioned that if the government had taken back the impugned notification why the punishments were awarded under price control act.
Pursuant to court order, IG Prisons told the court that after the suspension of impugned notification 17 persons were convicted under price control act (minor offences) and they were languishing behind the bar. The law officer tried to defend chief secretary by saying that Punjab top bureaucrat had telephonically conveyed court order to all DCs & ACs.
He pointed out that contempt notices had already been issued to deputy commissioner Sheikhupura and assistant commissioner Muridke for using judicial power after court suspended the notification.
The CJ also lambasted law department and remarked that the performance of department including its secretary was zero. The way government was issuing notification after notification was unprecedented. It seemed government was being ill-advised, the Chief Justice added.
He regretted that no reply could be filed in the courts on behalf of provincial government without the approval of law department but they are not justifying their job. The petitioner Tanvir Abdullah through Barrister Noman argued that under the Constitution prevalent law executive and judiciary were two separate entities and they couldn't interfere into each other affairs.
He said that DC and AC exercised judicial powers and decided matters despite a stay order issued by the court. He pointed out that impugned notification was ultra vires of article 2 & 9 of the Constitution as well as of section 14-A of Code of Criminal procedure 1898.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020