Media men say there should be some restrictions on media and those should be defined by judiciary. DESIGN: SUNARA NIZAMI
LAHORE:
Two media men, both senior journalists associated with Urdu dailies, said last week that there should be some restrictions on the media, that there must be some parameters set for reporters covering courts and those should be defined by the judiciary.
They also said that the Lahore High Court should decide which reporter should be allowed to cover courts.
They were addressing a seminar on court reporting organised by the Lahore High Court and the Press Council of Pakistan. A speaker said there should be some limits on media in the “interest of the nation.” He said there should be no unbridled independence of media. Another speaker said the LHC should not allow a reporter who did not understand the law to cover courts.
He also said bar councils and associations should take steps against lawyers found misbehaving with judges. He added that the task of assigning reporters to various beats was the job of editors.
The chairman of the PCP responded to several proposals of media personnel. He said access to information was a right of the public.
Lady Willingdon Hospital
The Lahore High Court saved a portion of the hostel of Lady Willingdon Hospital from demolition for a road widening project.
On January 31, the LHC had stayed the Punjab government from demolishing a portion of the hospital till April 7.
In its revised plan, the government had sought two kanals and 11 marlas of the lamd for the completion of the project.
On April 7, the LHC in its judgment held that acquiring 2 kanal 11 marla land of the hospital for construction of the junctions was necessary to remove the bottleneck for widening of the public road.
The government had also sought a three-feet corner of the hostel mess which the court saved by ruling, “No portion of the building of the doctors’ mess shall be demolished.”
Murree Forests
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah of the LHC last week ordered the Punjab Forest Department to take legal action against encroachment on 1,576 acres in Murree Forests.
The court was informed there were 2,325 encroachers in and along the boundary of the forest occupying 1,576 acres of state forest land in Murree.
The court had taken suo motu notice on January 27, 2010 on a news report about the issue. The court had stayed all work carried out by various housing schemes on the land of the forest.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 14th, 2014.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ