BHC orders action against VIP cars

Court seeks report about action taken against vehicles bearing logos of ministers with no registration numbers.

QUETTA:

The Balochistan High Court (BHC) has sought a report from the Quetta Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) and traffic police superintendent about action taken against the vehicles bearing logos of ministers and having no registration numbers.

A divisional bench, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, also directed the Quetta CCPO and SP traffic to periodically visit the civil secretariat and the Balochistan Assembly to ensure that the Motor Vehicles Ordinance is not being violated. “If legislators flout the law they would be denuded of moral authority to insist that the general public abide by the same,” the court observed.

The petitioner pointed out that despite court orders, VIP vehicles had no registration numbers.

A senior security official had earlier raised the issue, saying that vehicles bearing no registration number and carrying a logo of ‘minister’ or ‘MPA’ are being used in incidents of kidnapping across the province, which have recently increased in number.

Balochistan has over 50 ministers in its cabinet, the biggest cabinet in the history of the province.

The BHC chief justice also criticised a report submitted by the National Highway Authority (NHA) regarding encroachment on Airport Road. The court sought an explanation from the NHA deputy director.

The report, submitted by the NHA’s counsel, was accompanied by photos, but according to the court only one photo showed that encroachments were being removed. The court said “It appeared that the NHA deputy director of maintenance was maligning the authority of this court, and not removing actual encroachments”.

The chief justice called on the deputy director to submit his explanation in writing, and directed him to be present in the court on the next date of hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2012.