10 November 2004	Wednesday	26 Ramazan 1425

LAHORE, Nov 9: Of more than 17,000 cases transferred to the courts of six judicial magistrates at the time of devolution and afterwards, the fate of over 10,000 cases is not known to the City District Government food squad.

The fact has come to light following the nomination of Dr Shiab Anwar as CDG food magistrate by the district and sessions judge on the request of DCO Khalid Sultan and the transfer of the cases pending in the courts of six judicial magistrates to his court.

Of more than 10,000 cases distributed among the courts of six judicial magistrates posted in Allama Iqbal Town, Data Ganj Bakhsh Town, Ravi Town, Aziz Bhatti Town, Nishtar Town and Shalimar Town and another over 7,000 during the past three years and two months after devolution, only 3,902 have been transferred to the court of the CDG food magistrate. Most of the cases are more than five years old, and the accused are either not traceable on the given addresses or have left their business spots. The court is left with only 1,501 cases after the disposal of 159 last month.

The DCO requested the district and sessions judge for nomination of a single magistrate for hearing food cases at the district level on the grounds that the district government was responsible for food adulteration control under the Pure Food Ordinance, 1969. Moreover the judicial magistrates posted at the towns did not have the powers to award sentences prescribed for the adulterators under the law.

Earlier, food squad in-charge Deputy District Officer Chaudhry Munir Ahmad had informed the DCO in November last year that none of the judicial magistrates entrusted with the trial of food cases could sentence a criminal to a fine exceeding Rs15,000 and imprisonment exceeding three years whereas a mandatory sentence of three to five years imprisonment and a fine up to Rs100,000 had been prescribed under the Pure Food Ordinance provisions. Only magistrates with Section 30 powers were authorized to award a maximum punishment prescribed under the law, but none of the judicial magistrates hearing the food cases had such powers.

He had further pointed out that food quality control was the function of the district governments in the Punjab Local Government Ordinance, but no food magistrate had been appointed at the district level for the trial of food adulterators. All six magistrates had been posted at the town level, and the fines imposed by them were also being deposited with the accounts of the towns whereas the food squad was being maintained by the city government. The adulterators could also get themselves acquitted on a technical ground on this account.

He had stressed the need for appointment of a singe magistrate for hearing food cases at the district level on the grounds that different punishments had been prescribed for the first, second and third offences committed by a food adulterator under the law. The food inspectors submitting challans were required to mention whether the culprit was being booked for the offence for the first, second or third time, but no feedback was available from the courts of judicial magistrates in respect of the disposal of cases for mentioning in the challans whether the adulterators had been caught for the first, second or third time.

He said the food squad had submitted as many as 6,500 challans in the courts of six judicial magistrates from Jan 1 to Nov 15 last year, but had learnt nothing about the disposal of even one. He said all magistrates entrusted with the hearing of food cases during the tenure of ex-Metropolitan Corporation of Lahore used to furnish information in respect of disposal of cases to the food squad every month for meeting the mandatory requirement whether a culprit was being booked for food adulteration for the first, second or third time.

He said the food squad was not only unable to meet the mandatory provision of mentioning the number of time a food adulterator was being booked for the offence due to lack of feedback from the magistrate, but was also faced with the problem of taking care of huge inventory of case properties, including over 70,000 bottles of spurious beverages, 4,000kg turmeric and chili powder, 1,500kg butter and 'desi' ghee and over 10,000kg spurious ketchup.

He said the revenue collected in the shape of fines on food adulterators had decreased steadily due to tardy pace of disposal of cases by the magistrates entrusted with the task since the creation of the City District Government. Whereas one or two Section 30 magistrates imposed an average of Rs150 million fine on adulterators during the days of the ex-MCL, the total fines imposed last year did not exceed Rs80 million and were expected to decrease further this year despite the fact that the average number of challans being submitted for trial was almost the same.