‘Govt must regularly monitor security at all schools’

LAHORE:

The provincial government was directed to launch an awareness campaign to sensitise people regarding security at educational institutions.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah of the Lahore High Court gave the government directions to ensure that all schools had complied with the security SOPs chalked in view of recent terrorist threats. He told the government to develop a monitoring system for this purpose. He said district security audit committees must meet school administration officials regularly.

The secretary for schools gave an undertaking that the cost incurred by public and private schools on improving security measures would not be passed on to students. He told the court that monitoring teams were inspecting security measures at all schools.  The bench will take up the matter again on February 6.

No petrol

Last week, a single bench of the LHC summoned an inquiry report, ordered by the prime minister, looking into the petroleum crisis. The court also asked for the minutes of an Oil Advisory Committee’s meeting held in December.

The bench was hearing two identical petitions against shortage of petrol. The petitioners had asked the court to fix the responsibility of the crisis and take appropriate action.

During the course of the hearing, the legal director of the petroleum ministry said the price of petroleum had been slashed by Rs28 during the last five months. This had led to a large disparity between the demand and supply of fuel, he said.

Protecting heritage

A single bench of the LHC summoned an official from the Archaeology Department in connection with a petition seeking directions to stop the “illegal” construction of a marriage hall next to Dai Anga’s tomb.

The judge ordered the official to bring relevant records to the court on January 23.

Petitioner Faryal Gohar said the tomb was constructed in 1671. It was a heritage site and should have been preserved, she said. However, a marriage hall was being built right next to the tomb, she said.

She said under law, no new constructions could be erected within 200 feet of a historical building. Gohar requested directions to the Archaeology Department to stop the construction.

Governor’s House

Lahore High Court asked a deputy attorney general to inform the court about the law that restricted a change in the status of the Governor’s House building. The court issued the order while hearing a petition seeking the conversion of the property of the Governor’s House, measuring 35 acres, into an educational institution.

Barrister Javed Iqbal Jafree, the petitioner, argued that the office of the governor was symbolic and the expansive premises allocated for his residence was unjustified. He said keeping a huge residence for governor in a country where many children did not receive education was a shame. The lawyer asked the court to order the federal government to convert the Governor’s House into an educational institution.

Arrest warrants

Last week, the LHC issued and later withdrew arrest warrants for the secretary of Election Commission of Pakistan. The secretary had failed to submit a reply to a petition seeking enhanced scrutiny for all parliamentarians. Javed Badar, a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf worker, had filed the petition saying that the ECP, in a report submitted before the Supreme Court, had admitted that the returning officers had not carried out scrutiny of all candidates under terms of Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution. After the warrant was issued, the secretary sent a reply after which the court recalled the warrant on the same day.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2015.