Sindh High Court (SHC) Chief Justice Ahmed Ali Sheik on Friday showed dissatisfaction over the arrangements for provision of free wheat to deserving persons in Tharparkar district and directed to depute a judicial magistrate to review the arrangements.
Chief Justice heard the case after suo moto notice of the reports couple of days back over poor arrangements for distribution of free wheat to families registered under Benazir Income Support Programme as deserving families are unable to receive the wheat and return empty-handed after waiting for hours under scorching son.
Session Judge Tharparkar submitted the report in court, which revealed the shortage of staff is resulting in less distribution of wheat to the deserving women in Tharparkar. From May 22 to May 24, only 368 bags of wheat were distributed among the deserving women.
Chief Justice said report portrayed a very disappointing situation at the centre to distribute the free wheat. He directed for taking appropriate measures to increase the strength of staff at the centre for distribution of free wheat as well as erecting the tents for women in view of hot weather in district. Chief justice put off the hearing for one week after ordering for availability of ambulance for emergency situation at the centre.
Meanwhile, the SHC on Friday sought the latest report from Sindh Government about security measures to protect the educational institutions across the province by maintaining its earlier order to boost the security of the educational institutions.
A division bench of SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar is hearing the case after a petition was filed by Pakistan Institute of Labour Education & Research (PILER) seeking the court order to enhance the security of educational institutions in the light of killing of more than 130 children at the Army Public School in December 2014.
PILER's petition filed in January 2015 stated that Sindh Government should be directed to boost the security at educational institutions to ward off a repetition of this tragic incident. The petitioner also submitted a proposed action plan suggesting the measures to boost the security at the educational institutions.
On the orders of court, Home and Education Secretaries of Sindh along with other officials appeared in the hearing. "What measures have been taken and what strategy has been chalked out to secure the educational institutions", court inquired from the top officials of the Sindh Government.
Sindh Government's officials submitted a report in the court, explaining the measures, put in place to enhance the security at educational institutions.
It revealed that walls have been built where not existed and were raised further where existed in rural and urban parts of Sindh. The monitoring system has also been strengthened to keep a check on the surroundings of educational institutions.
Sindh government assured the court that appropriate measures would be taken to ensure the security, if the petitioner points out any lapse anywhere in the province.
SHC directed the government to submit reply in the court as well as sought latest report about the security measures at the educational institutions in the province.