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LAHORE, March 3: Chief Justice Iftikhar Husain Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court on Thursday reserved judgment on the Punjab government directive making helmets mandatory for motorcyclists.
The court proceeded upon the writ petition moved by Advocate M.D. Tahir on Thursday, which challenged the government's directive. He pleaded that the government had issued no notification in the official gazette and the order was being implemented through an official memorandum, which did not hold legal force.
Advocate Tahir submitted that the Motor Vehicle Ordinance did not make wearing of helmet mandatory after the lapse of an ordinance, which was promulgated in 1984 to add section 89(A) to the law. He said no such law was available on statute books.
APOLOGY ACCPTED: The Lahore High Court on Thursday accepted an unqualified apology tendered by Punjab Cooperatives Department Secretary Ms Farkhanda Waseem Afzal on a contempt of court notice.
The court issued her a show-cause notice for contempt in a petition moved by Punjab Cooperative Housing Society Secretary Muhammad Yousaf Butt, who contended that she was proceeding in a probe against his society despite a stay order issued by the high court.
Mr Butt was restrained by the society from attending its meeting since he was inquiring into the allegation of an embezzlement of about Rs37.5 million levelled against its president Chaudhry Abdul Qadeer and vice-president Malik Arshad Javed.
Petitioners' counsel Muhammad Arif Chaudhry submitted that a single bench of the LHC had directed the Punjab secretary not to proceed in the cooperative society's affairs, but she continued to do so in violation of the court order. The court later disposed of the contempt petition.
