LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday suspended a deputy commissioner’s notification that banned the sale of petrol to motorcyclists not wearing a helmet.

Justice Raheel Kamran Sheikh passed the injunctive order on a petition filed by a citizen, Mian Irfan Bashir.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that the directive issued by the DC was without a lawful authority and in violation of freedom of trade as embodied in Article 18 of the Constitution.

The judge questioned the imposition of the restriction on a basic right with mere a notification. He observed that it would be appropriate if the government introduced legislation on the matter.

Justice Sheikh sought replies from the Punjab government and the DC and suspended the impugned notification till Aug 16.

The Lahore DC had issued a notification to ban the sale of petrol to motorcyclists who won’t be using helmet while riding their two-wheelers.

According to notification on July 6, “the use of helmet is prescribed as mandatory by the law for safety of bikers/motorcyclists and violation of the same is an offence under the provision of Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1965 but it has been observed with concern that the same is being ignored and resulting in increase in death ration/severe head injuries of the bikers in road collisions/accidents.”

It went on to say that “in order to eradicate the illegal practice and to ensure road safety & and prevent loss of precious life, complete ban is being imposed on selling of fuel to bikers/motorcyclists without wearing safety helmet within the revenue jurisdiction of District Lahore”.

According to the details, the order comes three days after the DIG Traffic Police Punjab issued a letter to make helmets mandatory for motorcyclists.

The ban was reportedly followed by similar notifications from the Sialkot DC as well as CTO Rawalpindi.

FLAG: The LHC dismissed for being premature a petition against an alleged proposal of the caretaker government of Punjab about exhibition of a huge national flag at the Liberty Chowk at the cost of Rs400m.

A law officer filed a report on behalf of the government, rejecting the allegations of the petitioner and maintained that there was no such proposal. He said the government had not approved any funds as alleged by the petitioner.

The judge dismissed the petition for being premature in light of the government’s report.

The petitioner, through a counsel, had argued that the country faced an economic crisis and the federal government secured loan facilities from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and friendly countries.

On the other hand, he said, the caretaker government of Punjab had announced funds of Rs400m to be spent from the public kitty for hoisting a huge national flag at Liberty Market as part of the Independence Day celebrations.

He asked the court to restrain the government from utilising the public money for a useless purpose.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2023