ISLAMABAD: Huge advertisements in the media highlighting development projects by the provinces at taxpayers’ expense caught the attention on Wednesday of Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar who equated the tendency with “pre-poll rigging”.

By invoking suo motu jurisdiction, the chief justice summoned a report within a week from the information secretaries of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh signed by the chief secretaries of the provinces.

The chief justice observed that it had come to his notice that the three provincial governments were running advertisements in print and electronic media through which they were resorting to aggrandisement of their position and postulating as to what projects had been undertaken in the provinces during their tenure.

Such advertisements and paid content contained photographs of prominent politicians and leaders of the political parties in power, the court said. Such profligacy, obviously undertaken at government expense and taxpayers’ money, should not be burdening the public exchequer as it not only causes wastage of public funds, which can otherwise be allocated and utilised for public welfare, but also results in providing an unfair advantage to the ruling party in the coming elections.

SC asks DRAP, pharmaceutical companies to resolve issue of drug pricing

In the present circumstances being an election year, this might be tantamount to pre-poll rigging, the chief justice said.

The Supreme Court sought reports from the provinces identifying newspapers, magazines, TV channels and radio stations which had run such advertisements/paid content and aggregate amounts paid/payable to each during the last three months.

The report should also include the names of government departments, semi-government entities, government companies and other departments/entities/organisations which have been directed to pay such amounts or through which such amounts have been paid.

Likewise, the summary of the aggregate amount that each provincial government has spent so far on such extravagant displays and self-projection should also be provided.

The court directed the chief secretaries to submit sworn affidavits with the reports confirming that all information had been checked and rechecked, it was accurate and supported by the relevant record and no information had been concealed/misstated or withheld for any reason.

Meanwhile, a three-judge Supreme Court bench hearing the drug price case assured the Drugs Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) that no stay order issued by a civil court or a high court would come in its way or any other stakeholder’s.

The court asked the DRAP representatives and different pharmaceutical companies to sit together and devise a roadmap for settling the issue of drug pricing once and for all.

The court was hearing a suo motu case about the increase in prices of drugs originally taken up by former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

The directive came when senior counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan, representing drug companies Roche, Reckitt and Abbot, told the court that applications had been pending before the Sindh High Court on drug pricing, but the high court had issued orders without issuing a notice to the pharmaceutical companies or affording them an opportunity of being heard.

He said that about 2,000 applications relating to drug pricing had been pending with the DRAP since long, but not a single hearing was held on them during the last three years.

He said that the pharmaceutical companies had to run to the courts in view of lack of justice by the regulatory authority which was understaffed and despite vacancies no appointments were being made in it.

However, the counsel said he still believed that the best way to settle the matter was referring it to the DRAP, but the authority should be directed to pass a speaking order.

Health Services Secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch also conceded that litigations had been pending in beore different courts for a long time and said that he was trying his best to solve the matter, but there were anomalies in the 2015 drug policy.

The secretary told the court that he wanted to resolve the issue to ensure availability of drugs and keep their prices at an affordable level for patients, but the pending litigation in the high courts was hampering development, adding that the SHC had issued a stay order on the matter of bar coding of medicines.

Rasheed A. Razvi, appearing on behalf of one of the drug companies, said that Novartis, a multinational drug company, had wound up its operations from Pakistan because of unnecessary delays in deciding the issue of drug pricing.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2018