LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday dismissed a petition challenging the Punjab government’s plan to hold the Basant festival for 10 days in 2027 after the petitioner failed to satisfy the court about its maintainability.

Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry heard the petition filed by a citizen, Shahid Islam.

At the outset of the hearing, the judge asked the petitioner’s counsel how the proposed Basant festival could be challenged without a formal government notification.

The counsel said information about the proposed festival had been obtained from the government’s website and newspapers.

The judge observed that the petition could not be based on unverified information and directed the counsel to obtain the official notification before challenging the government’s decision.

He said the petitioner could seek a certified copy of the notification under the right to information law. The judge also summoned the additional registrar (judicial) to explain why an objection had not been raised against the petition during its scrutiny.

Justice Chaudhry directed him to limit his arguments to the law when the counsel referred to a previous ban on Basant and alleged deaths reported during the festival last year.

The judge also expressed concern over the petitioner repeatedly interrupting the proceedings despite being represented by a lawyer. He dismissed the petition as being withdrawn by the petitioner.

The petitioner had challenged the government’s announced plan to hold Basant festival from Jan 29 to Feb 7, 2027.

The provincial government through chief secretary, home secretary, deputy commissioner, inspector general of police and Lahore capital city police officer, among others, had been named as respondents.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2026