LAHORE: Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Sunday took a suo motu notice on an application and sought reports from police and the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) on the use of drugs in private as well as government educational institutions.

A civil society member, Abdullah Malik, had submitted his application before the chief justice during a hearing of human rights cases at the Lahore registry of the Supreme Court.

Malik said easy availability of drugs in educational institutions was destroying the lives of students while the government took no action. He said the Punjab government had committed criminal negligence by not launching a crackdown on drug peddlers. He said the future of the country would be at risk if the students were not rescued from the menace of drugs.

Chief Justice Nisar observed that the use of drugs in educational institutions was playing havoc with our young generation. He lamented that expensive drugs like ice (meth) were easily available to the students.

The top judge remarked that the drug mafia needed to be dealt with iron hands to protect future of the country.

Chief Justice Nisar sought report from the capital city police officer of Lahore and ANF on the matter within one week.

BILLBOARDS: Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Sunday directed the director general of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) to ensure enforcement of the Lahore High Court’s order about removal of huge billboards from the buildings and roads of provincial capital as well as other cities.

Advocate Azhar Siddique filed an application to the chief justice saying the LDA and other authorities had removed billboards from The Mall in light of the LHC order but the same operation had not been carried out on other roads of the city or in other cities of Punjab. The lawyer said the oversized billboards had destroyed the beauty of historical buildings.

CJ Nisar observed that the LHC had already issued an order to remove billboards and it should be implemented in letter and spirit. He told the lawyer that matter regarding removal of billboards in other provinces would be heard at principal seat Islamabad next week.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2018