LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan on Tuesday censured a traders’ leader for filing a frivolous petition against the coronavirus lockdown and also slapped a fine on him.

The decision on continuing or ending the lockdown is a prerogative of the government, the chief justice observed, dismissing the petition by All Pakistan Anjuman-i-Tajran Secretary General Naeem Mir.

He dismissed the petition for being non-maintainable and imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on the petitioner.

The chief justice observed that nobody would be allowed to waste time of the courts by filing unnecessary and frivolous petitions for cheap publicity.

CJ dismisses petition, slaps petitioner with Rs50,000 fine

Petitioner’s counsel Advocate Asad Manzoor Butt stated the petition was not against the lockdown but its implementation in a discriminatory manner. He said the government had shown discrimination in allowing the resumption of certain industries.

“Do you want us to shut the industries?” Chief Justice Khan asked the counsel and also warned him of increasing amount of the fine by minutes if he continued his arguments.

The chief justice remarked that the citizens should support the government in its efforts to control the pandemic.

In his petition, Mir had submitted that the people from all walks of life were facing the crisis due to the lockdown. He said the prime minister had announced Rs12,000 for each daily-wage worker and underprivileged citizens to help them make ends meet during the lockdown. However, he added, the government had ignored the traders altogether who had suffered a lot due to the pandemic crisis.

He said the government had allowed select businesses and industries to reopen. He asked the court to order the government to also allow the traders to resume their businesses and compensate the affected traders from the PM’s Covid-19 Relief Fund.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2020