LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry on Friday observed that courts could not allow to register murder cases against officials over failure to control the dengue outbreak.
The CJ remarked he wanted the system to work and if such cases were allowed then it would create a panic and also put the teams/officials under fear which would affect their performance in the fight against dengue.
The court held that murder cases could be ordered only when it involves planning, intention and presence of the accused.
However, the CJ also observed that only cases of negligence could be ordered if officials were found quilty. " Negligence could not be determined at this stage, however, action would be taken against those who were found responsible for it" he added.
The court was hearing a plea filed by Judicial Activism Panel through its chairman, Muhammad Azhar Siddique seeking a direction for registration of criminal/murder cases against functionaries of the federal and Punjab governments for their failure to control dengue epidemic which had claimed at least 62 lives.
Earlier, the petitioner's counsel pleaded in the court that the Punjab inspector general of police and Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) director general might be directed to register criminal cases against the accused, including the executive and politicians, after holding them responsible for loss of lives.
He further pleaded that the government be directed to establish a Dengue Fever Eradication Commission to chalk out a countrywide programme on a permanent basis for complete eradication of the epidemic.
He said political personalities be directed not to interfere in executive functions which were directly concerned with protection of fundamental rights and appropriate direction be given for setting up an accountable system which might control corruption and misuse of powers in such cases.
Siddique pleaded that federal government, PMDC (Pakistan Medical & Dental Council) and the provincial government should be directed to enforce the condition of providing 50 percent free of cost health facilities by private medical institutions.
After hearing the arguments, the CJ directed Additional Advocate General Punjab Hanif Khatana to ensure the submission of report and parawise comments by October 7 from the respondents.
Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.