Court reserves verdict in transporters plea against ban

The Islamabad High Court has reserved its verdict on a petition against a one-month ban on the bus transport company whose bus met a dangerous accident in the hills of Kallar Kahar on the Islamabad-Lahore Motorway.

IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq heard the petition of the petitioner bus company against the decision of the Motorway Police.

During the hearing of the case, Assistant Attorney General Azmat Bashir Tarar, Motorway Police officials, and counsel for the petitioner appeared before the court.

The assistant attorney general told the court that the petitioner company was running the bus on a fake route permit which was meant for another vehicle.

“After the ban, they replaced the name of Shalimar with Bilal Travel on their busses and started plying them on the route. They have been restrained from plying their vehicles on the motorway for one month because their vehicles were running without inspection,” he said and added that the petitioner company was asked to apply for fresh NOC after inspection.

The Motorway Police officials told the court that they had the complete record of the Shalimar Company’s vehicles. “The bus company has been told to adopt all the safety measures as per law. The company has been told to get their vehicle inspection done in a month besides completing other legal formalities and then apply for the NOC,” they said.

The Motorway Police told the judge that such violations occurred where there were no cameras or police vehicles. The court praised the Motorway Police and remarked: “It is a good thing that you don't even leave the vehicles with green number plates unchecked.”

The court reserved its verdict after hearing the arguments of all the parties.

It should be noted that the Motorway Police has banned the Shalimar bus company for one month and it has been instructed to reapply for the NOC after a month.

Case background

Last month, 13 people were killed and 15 others injured when a passenger bus lost control and overturned on the Lahore-Islamabad motorway, some 130km from the federal capital.

Following the incident, a case was registered against the bus driver, owner of the bus company, and several others allegedly involved in the deadly crash at the Kallar Kahar police station under sections 322, 337-G, 279, 427, and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7^th, 2023.