Law or unlawful?: Owners of vehicles without standardised plates in a bind

Complaints arise of policemen abusing orders given by the chief justice of Pakistan .

KARACHI:

The only distance that a car without the government-issued licence plate is allowed to cover is from your house to the excise and taxation department. But those waiting for their vehicle’s standardised plate find themselves in a fix as the process can take months. The bigger problem, however, is the alleged misuse of power in checking such vehicles as law abiding citizens complain of unlawful behaviour of the policemen, The Express Tribune learnt on Sunday.

“Criminals and their accomplices are roaming freely in the city but the police are seizing vehicles and harassing people in the name of snap checking,” said renowned philanthropist, Suhail Zaheer Lari, husband of Sitara-e-Imtiaz recipient, Yasmeen Lari.

Sharing his own experience, Suhail Lari said that on April 5, he was stopped by police officers at the Clifton roundabout while driving his new car bought in December, 2012, with the registration number AYM 969. “The policeman told me that they have orders from the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to detain anyone driving without proper number plates.”

According to Lari, he told the police that the excise and taxation department had yet to provide him the standardised plate. “I was given a temporary number plate by Toyota Central Motors, from where I bought my car. I also produced papers, stamped by the excise and taxation department, saying that the number plate has not been issued,” Lari told The Express Tribune. “But they kept me detained for about an hour, saying that they were following the orders of the Chief Justice of Pakistan.”

When contacted, the excise and taxation department said that when a new car is bought, its owner is given a registration number and papers allowing him to use the car for three months without the standardised plates. But after three months, it cannot be taken on the roads.

Lari also alleged that his driver went through the same ordeal when his car, a Toyota Surf car/jeep No. U 3221, was stopped by Defence SHO Farooq Satti on March 27 at Sunset Boulevard in DHA. “He had no other reason to stop the car except that the ‘chief justice has asked police to undertake strict surveillance’,” said Lari, adding that the vehicle was registered in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The other side

SSP Nasir Aftab while talking to The Express Tribune clarified that checking vehicles without standardised plates falls under the police’s domain. “It is our duty to keep an eye out for such vehicles but these are all individual cases. Sometimes the policemen behave unlawfully and other times, people also do not cooperate.” He stressed that it was not easy for law enforcers to approach cars of known people but they have to abide by the law.



His statement was backed by Ahmed Solangi, director excise and taxation department, who said that if a vehicle does not have the authorised number plate after three months of its purchase, the police has full authority to stop its owner. “Even if you’re driving from your home to the department, the police can stop the vehicle does carry the standardised plate,” he said.

“The law is clear and simple - no one can drive their car without the standardised plate, except from their house to the excise and taxation department,” said Sindh Inspector General of Police’s spokesperson, Imran Shaukat.

Regarding Lari’s vehicle registered at KP which has been allegedly seized, the officer said that the policemen must have taken it into custody to check it thoroughly. “People should cooperate with the police and not make it a question of their ego. All steps are being taken only to maintain law and order.”

Defence SHO Farooq Satti’s cell phone was switched off till the filing this story.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2013.