PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has shown displeasure with the efforts made to control dengue in the province and has asked the Health Department for a report.
The issue arose during the hearing of a dengue control petition, overseen by Chief Justice S.M. Atiq Shah. The Director General of Health appearing in court remarked that dengue prevention is a shared duty, not the responsibility of the Health Department alone. He mentioned that a dengue control strategy is developed each January encompassing 19 departments, in total.
The DG Health also notified the court that District Police Officers (DPOs) were not part of the plan before. Steps will be implemented this year to include them.
Chief Justice Atiq Shah directed the Health Department to submit a report outlining the difficulties encountered in dengue control and the measures being implemented to address them. The court additionally inquired if dengue patients received treatment or were billed and ordered that the report include comprehensive statistics.
At the hearing the Advocate General noted that although dengue cases had risen unusually in 2022 government actions had effectively managed to control the situation.
The court adjourned the hearing indefinitely after directing the Health Department and other relevant stakeholders to submit the detailed report.
PHC declares bar associations strike and court boycott illegal
On 7 November, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) has ruled that bar associations do not have the authority to stop lawyers from taking part in court sessions or attending hearings. This ruling was made following a petition challenging lawyers’ strikes and court boycotts.
Justice Syed Arshad Ali in his 43-page judgment highlighted that these strikes infringe upon guarantees specifically Articles 4, 8 and 10A which protect the right of all citizens to a fair hearing. The court observed that strikes, by lawyers lead to the postponement of cases and impose a financial strain on the government.
The verdict states that the daily expenses incurred by courts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a result of lawyer strikes are around PKR 57 million. The court recommended that lawyers should voice their dissent in a way, such as, by wearing black armbands putting up banners and conducting peaceful assemblies rather than stopping judicial processes.
The decision also directed the Additional Registrar of Peshawar High Court to circulate this guideline to all courts across the province.
