The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued contempt notices to the provincial chief secretary and the health secretary over non-compliance of its previous order to take measures for the eradication of the rubella virus and measles in the province.
Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar, who headed the bench, directed both the secretaries to file their replies explaining why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against them.
A non-government organisation, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education Research, had pleaded the court to initiate contempt proceedings against the officials over their failure to adopt preventive measures, as ordered by the court on May 25.
In May, SHC Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar had initiated proceedings on a letter addressed by a lawyer, Zulfiqar Ali Langah, who had requested for direction to the authorities to control the spread of the deadly disease in Thatta and Sajawal districts, where 48 children had died from it.
On May 25, the bench had ordered the health secretary to take stringent measures to eradicate the disease by way of forming vigilance committees.
During Wednesday's proceedings, the judges were informed that the order has not been complied with by the chief secretary and the health secretary despite the fact that they were duly communicated about it. The court was requested to proceed against both the secretaries for contempt of court for deliberately and willingly not complying with the order. Taking notice of the situation, the bench issued contempt notices to the secretaries to file their replies.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 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