LAHORE, Aug 26: Justice Maulavi Anwarul Haq of the Lahore High Court on Monday directed the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Pakistan Standards Institution (PSI) to ensure the presence of their officials in his court on September 26 during the hearing of a petition about manufacture of substandard oil stoves.

The judge took a serious view of the apathy of the government officials towards the issue of vital public interest as not a single official of the ministry, the PSI, the Punjab chief secretary and IGP’s offices had appeared in the court during the hearings of numerous petitions admitted by the late Justice Arif Iqbal Husain Bhatti in 1996.

Petitioner-lawyer M. D. Tahir contended that an average 400 deaths were being reported in the country every year as a result of stove bursts as the PSI had not prescribed any standards for the manufacture of stoves.

There was no effort to check the production of substandard stoves by any other government agency either.

The petitioner prayed the court to issue directions for formulation of standards for the manufacture of oil stoves and making it mandatory for the manufacturers to guarantee the safety of their products.

He also prayed that the court should direct police to register murder cases in stove bursts.