Tag: Islamabad High Court

  • Court orders jailing health secy for six months if PMDC building not opened in an hour

    Court orders jailing health secy for six months if PMDC building not opened in an hour

    Expressing displeasure with the federal government over its failure to revive the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday ordered jailing the health secretary for six months if the building was not opened in an hour.

    PMDC — a statutory regulatory authority that maintained the official register of medical and dental practitioners in Pakistan — was in October last year dissolved and replaced by the Pakistan Medical Commission after the president signed the Pakistan Medical Commission Ordinance 2019 for the regulation of the medical profession.

    On February 11, the IHC declared the federal government’s decision to dissolve the PMDC null and void. The court also issued contempt notices to the federal government and health department for not implementing its orders.

    According to SAMAA, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani resumed hearing the contempt case on Monday. He said the PMDC should be made functional today. The authorities should break the lock on its building and make its registrar sit there. “A report should be submitted to the court in one hour,” the judge said.

    The health secretary will be sent to jail for six months if the building is not opened in an hour, he remarked. “I have given you three dates already and you haven’t done anything.”

    Not implementing court’s orders is contempt, the judge remarked. “This is a slap on the court’s face.” Such behaviour does not suit the federal government, said Justice Kayani, adding that the government should be ashamed.

    The court also asked if PMDC employees were getting their salaries or not. The lawyer of the employees said that the they haven’t been paid in over five months.

    TOP COURT AGAINST RELEASE OF PRISONERS AMID COVID-19 OUTBREAK:

    Meanwhile, the Supreme Court (SC) has refrained high courts and all governments to pass any orders regarding the release of prisoners amid the coronavirus outbreak.

    According to journalist Hasnaat Malik, the top court has also suspended the implementation of IHC orders regarding release of under-trial prisoners.

    Punjab had last week decided to let go of almost 20,000 of its 46,000 prisoners amid the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis as jails in Pakistan remain overcrowded.

    Jail superintendents, who had reached out to the courts to approve the bail of prisoners handed sentences of seven years or less, had reportedly taken the step in light of special instructions.

    Bail requests were also filed for prisoners jailed for petty crimes, as well as the elderly, or criminals over 60 years of age.

    The development had come days after IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minullah had ordered for bails to be issued for prisoners facing trial for minor crimes in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. He had made the decision while hearing a case of 1,362 incarcerated prisoners.

    The top IHC judge had noted how prisons in Pakistan were in dire straits and that the situation would get out of control if any prisoner got infected.

  • ‘First individuals to embrace Islam were women,’ says IHC on petition calling Aurat March ‘anti-Islamic’

    ‘First individuals to embrace Islam were women,’ says IHC on petition calling Aurat March ‘anti-Islamic’

    Reserving its verdict on the maintainability of a petition seeking to restrict the Aurat March for being “unlawful, unconstitutional and un-Islamic”, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has questioned the petitioners’ interpretation of slogans they had objected to.

    “The first individuals to embrace Islam were women,” IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah noted as the petitioners’ lawyers told the court that they sought restrictions on the Aurat March — scheduled to take place across the country on March 8 as the world marks Women’s Day — and shared three slogans that women would chant at such an event, Dawn reported.

    The eight petitioners had earlier appealed to the court to regulate activities like the Aurat March “subject to law, norms, decency and public morality in the best interest of justice and to order the respondents to perform their obligatory duties towards the Constitution and the law of land in this regard and restrain unlawful, unconstitutional and un-Islamic activities forthwith”.

    “In our society, various Islamic laws are being seriously violated. The court hopes that the petitioner also approaches it for the enforcement of all these Islamic laws,” remarked Justice Minallah during the hearing today.

    “The women’s slogans are that they be given the rights that Islam grants them. Can we interpret their slogans by ourselves?” the judge questioned.

    “It is important that you see the Aurat March in a positive light. On your own, how can you interpret these slogans?”

    The judge also questioned the petitioners’ counsel on how many women in the country were given the right to an inheritance, alluding to the difficulties they face despite clear Islamic laws in place.

    “Who ended the practice of burying girls alive?” the IHC chief justice inquired, in response to which the petitioners’ lawyer said Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had done so.

    “In our society, the birth of a girl is still not considered good,” he added.

    The petitioners’ lawyers told the court that they completely supported women’s rights, adding that they were not opposed to the march or to the rights of women.

    They pleaded for the court to pass an order that the march is conducted within the ambit of the law, Constitution and Islam.

    Following the statements of the parties in the case today, the IHC reserved its verdict.

  • ‘How can you question patriotism?’: Islamabad protesters granted bail

    ‘How can you question patriotism?’: Islamabad protesters granted bail

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has granted post-arrest bail to activists who were detained for protesting against the arrest of Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) leader Manzoor Pashteen, Dawn reported Monday.

    According to reports, IHC Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah heard the plea and granted bail to 23 activists belonging to the PTM and Awami Workers Party (AWP).

    During the course of proceedings, the IHC CJ expressed displeasure at the Islamabad police chief’s absence from the court. “We did not expect this of your government. You are the representative of the state here, it is the state’s job to protect its people,” he reportedly said to the deputy commissioner, adding that the government should admit if it was wrong.

    “We will get to the bottom of this case. How could you question someone’s patriotism? Do you think constitutional courts will shut their eyes on a matter like this?” CJ Minallah remarked while giving the deputy commissioner a week’s time to consult the Islamabad police chief and come up with a report on the incident.

    Pashteen, who is still in state custody, was arrested up from the Tahkal area of Peshawar last week. According to the FIR [First Information Report] filed against the PTM chief, he is accused of using threatening and derogatory language against the state during a gathering in Dera Ismail Khan on January 18.

    Pashteen was last Monday presented before a court that handed him over to law enforcement authorities on a 14-day judicial remand.

  • Islamabad High Court gets its first female judge

    Islamabad High Court gets its first female judge

    The Islamabad High Court on Friday got its first female judge.

    According to reports, Justice Lubna Saleem Pervaiz was administered the oath by Chief Justice Athar Minallah at the high court.

    Two other judges, Fiaz Anjum Jadran and Ghulam Azam Qambrani, were also sworn in.

    Meanwhile, Justices Aamer Farooq, Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, and Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb attended the ceremony.

    Earlier in December, Chief Justice Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa had revealed that the judiciary is working towards inducting female judges in the Supreme Court.

    Addressing the concluding session of Women Judges Conference in Lahore, Justice Khosa had said that more than 300 female judges are working in the district courts of Pakistan and that they were doing a brilliant job.

    “Our women judges have proven their abilities through their verdicts and by the way they have handled complex cases,” Justice Khosa had said, adding, “We have as many as 300 women judges in district courts and we hope to soon have at least one or two in the Supreme Court. I had the opportunity to propose two names and they are being actively considered.”

  • Former president Zardari granted bail on medical grounds

    Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday approved the bail of former president Asif Ali Zardari on medical grounds and asked him to submit surety bonds worth Rs10 million.

    A week earlier, Zardari, who is under detention on charges of money laundering and presently undergoing treatment at a hospital, had agreed to file a bail petition on medical grounds at the insistence of his family members.

    His lawyers had moved the IHC for his bail.

    It had been announced by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari during a brief news conference after meeting his ailing father at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) last Monday.

    In his petition, Zardari had maintained that he was suffering from a heart condition and has had three stents placed in his body. He had said that he also suffers from diabetes which means that he has to constantly monitor his blood sugar levels.

    The PPP co-chairperson’s medical reports were also submitted along with the application to the IHC so that bail may be granted.

    The high court had also admitted for hearing a bail petition filed by Zardari’s sister Faryal Talpur. In her appeal, Talpur had maintained that she is the mother of a differently-abled child. In order to care for her child, she had asked the court to grant bail until the completion of the trial.

    Zardari, Talpur and other accused face charges of corruption through fake bank accounts and embezzlement in the financial facility for Park Lane Private Limited and Parthenon (Pvt) Limited. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) alleges that the national exchequer suffered a loss of Rs3.77 billion because of the irregularities.

    Zardari was shifted to PIMS in October after the medical board stated that he was suffering from cardiac problem, diabetes and other ailments, and needed medical care.

  • Abrar ul Haq’s appointment as PRCS chairman suspended

    Abrar ul Haq’s appointment as PRCS chairman suspended

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has suspended the notification which appointed Abrar ul Haq as the chairman of the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

    According to reports, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah suspended the notification issued last week as he was hearing a petition filed by outgoing PRCS Chairman Dr Saeed Elahi against Haq’s appointment.

    Elahi was appointed as the PRCS chairman in 2014 by the PML-N government and granted an extension for another term in 2017. He was removed last week by President Alvi, who is the patron of PRCS.

    PTI officials reveal that Elahi was removed for openly criticising the government, adding that he had been accused of corruption and nepotism during his two tenures.

    Meanwhile, Elahi says that his removal was illegal because he had neither completed his tenure nor was there any logical reason to remove him from the position. Elahi explained that under the rules of PRCS, only the management body had the power to make appointments. He said that the chairman of PRCS can only be removed before the completion of the term if they submit their resignation to the president, adding that his removal was also in violation of the fundamental rights provided in the Constitution, according to which “no one can be condemned unheard”.

    He challenged Haq’s appointment in the court on November 16 on the grounds of conflict of interest and nepotism. Elahi asserted that Haq had a conflict of interest with the organisation as the singer-turned-politician not only runs a hospital and private college but also collects donations for his non-government organisation Sahara Trust.

    The court suspended the notification of Haq’s appointment and issued notices to President Arif Alvi, secretary cabinet division, secretary national health service and Haq, all of whom have been named as respondents, and demanded a written response. The hearing was adjourned until November 29.