LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan has directed the Punjab government to introduce public-private partnership and engage charitable personalities to facilitate the burial of the dead belonging to common families in a respectful manner.

He also directed the government to ensure that two model graveyards be established each in Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi divisions on the pattern of such facilities set up in Lahore city.

“To uphold the dignity of a dead person, it is the duty of state to ensure provision of an appropriate place for burial and this responsibility is either to be discharged by the state itself through its local government bodies or departments,” the chief justice observed in a verdict issued on a public interest petition regarding shortage of graveyards proportionate to the number of people residing in Lahore.

The chief justice further directed the local government department secretary to ensure that adequate man power was deputed to look after the affairs of graveyards.

He said it was a matter of concern that in the country the number of on-job people with reasonable pay was too low, while on the other hand, the number of jobless persons was too high.

“It is apathy that in case of the sad demise of any of the family members, it becomes very difficult [for low-income families] to make arrangements for burial of the dead body, which in the present scenario costs too much,” he added.

In this case, the government told the court that four graveyards had been established in the four corners of the city of Lahore to cope with the situation in the future.

The CJ further ordered the government to ensure that private housing societies, including the Defence Housing Authority (DHA), allocated sufficient area for graveyards, as envisaged in the relevant laws.

In a related matter of regulation of the housing societies, Justice Khan directed the authorities to examine and make laws/rules/regulations to make it binding for the private housing colonies and societies, co-operative societies and even colonies developed by the DHA, develop green-belts separate from the footpaths and plant indigenous species of trees there to protect the environment and also to attract the birds. He also ordered development of such green areas along the roads.

The chief justice also directed the LDA director general to prepare a master-plan of the city as early as possible by minutely observing the progress of its preparation. He directed the government that the LDA DG should not be transferred before December 2021, the date on which the master-plan was expected to be completed.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2021