LAHORE, Sept 14: The Lahore High Court sought a reply from the Punjab government and others on Friday on a petition seeking action against the factories established in residential areas of Punjab.

Justice Ayesha A Malik, however, turned down a request by the petitioner for a stay order against the functioning of factories in residential areas.

The judge adjourned hearing till Oct 10 and directed the respondents to file the reply.

The Pakistan Mazdoor Mahaz filed the petition through Advocate Ishtiaq Chaudhry stating that countless factories and industries were functioning in the residential localities of the province in connivance with the authorities concerned.

The counsel said these factories had been established illegally but the government remained failed to take any action against them.

He prayed to the court to order the Punjab government, the Lahore Development Authority, the Buildings Department and others to take action against all such illegal factories and close them down. The petitioner also prayed that a judicial inquiry be ordered to fix responsibility of all fire incidents occurred in the past and to ensure their punishment.

HAJ QUOTA: The Ministry of Religious Affairs on Friday told the Lahore High Court that quota of 490 pilgrims would be allocated among 48 newly-registered Haj Group Organisers (HGOs).

This was stated by a joint secretary of the ministry during hearing of contempt of court petitions filed by newly-registered Haj organisers accusing the ministry of violating a court order with regard to allocation of quota. The secretary also submitted a list of 48 HGOs.

On behalf of the petitioners, Advocate Azhar Siddique told the court that most of the companies were sister concerns/family companies and were blacklisted. Therefore, the ministry should be directed to allocate quota among them after excluding ineligible companies and new eligible HGOs be added in the list.

At this, Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial directed the ministry to place the names of these companies on its website and award a quota of minimum 10 pilgrims to each new company.

The joint secretary also submitted that 2,027 new tour companies had been enrolled by the ministry subject to their verification. The CJ adjourned further hearing till Sept 18, directing the secretary to submit a final report of the eligible companies.