KARACHI: A lawmaker of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan against a plan of the provincial government to procure 138 double-cabin vehicles for the assistant commissioners after the Sindh High Court (SHC) had dismissed his petition.

MPA Mohammad Farooq submitted that his petition was dismissed by the SHC on technical grounds with observation that the petitioner was unable to make out a case to invoke of the discretionary writ jurisdiction of the high court.

Citing the chief secretary and other provincial authorities as respondents, the petitioner through his lawyer Usman Farooq impugned the judgement of the SHC and pleaded to grant leave to appeal in the present matter and pass order as deemed fit by the apex court in the interest of justice.

He asked whether the impugned order was based on misappreciation of facts and whether the provincial cabinet should be allowed to act against the general public interest.

The petitioner also contended that a letter, written on Sept 3, 2024 by the services, general administration and coordination department to the secretary finance department for the release of nearly Rs2 billion funds to procure 138 vehicles (4x4 double cabin) for ACs across Sindh reflected the misuse of taxpayer money as the same was collected to provide essential services such as healthcare, education, infrastructure and public safety.

He further maintained that the impugned order was likely to affect the fundamental rights of the petitioner and, therefore, liable to be set aside.

On March 28, a two-judge constitutional bench of the SHC had dismissed two identical petitions for not being maintainable on the subject matter and also vacated the interim restraining order allowing the Sindh government to go ahead with the planned procurement of vehicles.

The SHC had also questioned the locus standi of the petitioner and noted the public interest litigation ought not to be aimed at seeking publicity and the law required the court to ascertain whether the supplicant was acting in a bona fide manner.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2025