LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has sought a legal opinion from the advocate general whether the caretaker chief minister can be called to explain ‘defiance’ of a statutory obligation.

“The Advocate General, Punjab, shall assist the court regarding the consequence of denying to comply with statutory obligation by the provincial government, which may be a caretaker government,” Justice Shahid Jamil Khan said in his written order issued on a petition seeking the implementation of the Police Order 2002.

The petition, which has been pending since 2017, mainly questions the non-constitution of the District Public Safety Commission, Provincial Public Safety Comm­ission, and Police Complaints Authority as required by the Police Order 2002.

The petition was last heard on Oct 31 when an additional advocate general told the court that a caretaker standing committee of the cabinet recommended that the matter shall be taken up by the new government after elections.

Justice Khan observed that a bare perusal of the recommendations showed that no law had been referred for deferring the matter, showing incompetence of the caretaker government.

He said it was the statutory duty of the provincial government to comply with this provision, enforcement of which has been sought through the writ petition in hand.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2023