LAHORE: The Lahore High Court said on Thursday the decision of shutting down shops and business places at 8pm was a policy matter of the government and the court had no jurisdiction to interfere in it.

With this observation, Justice Ijazul Ahsan dismissed a petition filed by All Pakistan Anjuman-i-Tajiran central secretary general Naeem Mir, assailing the decision for being discriminatory and unconstitutional.

As the court resumed hearing, petitioner’s counsel CM Afzal argued that the government’s decision was arbitrary, capricious and was taken without building any consensus and taking into confidence any of the traders body. He said it was the worst example of discrimination as the government was not inclined to shutting down any business premises in Cantonment areas of the province and only small traders were likely to suffer.

The counsel argued the government awfully failed to fulfill its responsibilities with respect to required energy production.

He said the government should be directed to take effective steps for production of the required electricity and to withdraw the announcement regarding closure of shops by 8pm in Punjab and Islamabad. He said the government be also directed to upgrade modes of domestic and commercial electricity appliances instead of obsolete technologies being used in Pakistan.

The judge dismissed the petition for being not maintainable.

Naeem Mir announced that he would challenge the order before a division bench by filing an intra-court appeal.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2015

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