KARACHI: The Sindh High Court was informed on Monday that provincial authorities had provided thermal guns for the high court and district judiciary in the provincial metropolis to check the temperature of lawyers, litigants and staff members before their entrance to the courts premises.

When a set of petitions against inadequate safety arrangements at courts in view of Covid-19 outbreak came up for hearing before a two-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar, SHC registrar Ghulam Rasool Samoon filed a report in compliance with the previous order.

He submitted that in terms of earlier directives of the bench, the provincial government had provided him 11 thermal guns, adding that five thermal guns had been delivered to the district judiciary and one had been allocated to the SHC clinic.

The registrar further said that the five thermal guns in his possession would be distributed to monitor the temperature of people at different gates of the SHC’s principal seat.

Petition challenging pillion-riding ban adjourned till Thursday

An official of the health department submitted that they had devised a mechanism and the chief medical officer at the SHC clinic might refer patients to the Civil Hospital Karachi for testing and in fact he had so far sent 35 persons for Covid-19 test.

The bench observed that the other prayers made by the petitioners were related to some monetary package for lawyers and fixed it for May 19 when it would take up another petition filed for the same purpose by the Sindh Bar Council.

At the last hearing, the lawyers for SBC had submitted that the body had received 7,000 applications for financial support for lawyers and the SBC had already requested the Sindh and federal governments for allocation of funds.

Plea against pillion-riding ban

A provincial law officer on Monday informed the same bench of the SHC that some relaxations had been made in the lockdown order by the provincial authorities.

When a petition challenging a complete ban on pillion riding was taken up for hearing, the Additional Advocate General (AAG) said that even in pillion riding some relaxations were already given, but the same were not available on record.

He sought time to file the same and the court adjourned the matter till May 14.

Journalist Umair Anjum petitioned the SHC stating that it was unprecedented that the provincial government put a complete ban on pillion riding, barring journalists, women and children.

Impleading the Sindh chief secretary, home secretary, inspector general of police and others as respondents, the petitioner argued that the journalist community was facing severe hardship in performing their professional duties due to the pillion-riding ban.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2020