708 cases lodged against mainpuri and gutka-makers, SHC told

Police have registered 708 cases against manufacturers and sellers of gutka and mainpuri and arrested over 100 people in different districts of the province, the Sindh High Court was told on Wednesday.

The court was hearing a petition of Rashid Khan seeking a ban on the manufacturing and selling of gutka (a stimulant made from crushed areca nut, catechu, paraffin wax and staked lime) and mainpuri (a mix of tobacco and crushed areca nut). 

The court had ordered the inspector general of police and other authorities to ensure effective enforcement of restrictions imposed on the preparation, manufacturing and selling of gutka and mainpuri throughout the province.

Filing comments on petition, the police chief submitted that 404 cases were registered against gutka and mainpuri-makers in Mirpurkhas, 139 cases in Benazirabad and 165 cases in South and East districts of Karachi. Also, police arrested110 persons named in these cases. 

The IGP said that all SSPs had been directed to take strict action against the manufacturing of gutka and mainpuri in their jurisdiction.

The petitioner had submitted that the health of a large number of citizens had been gravely endangered because of the consumption of substandard gutka and mainpuri despite the imposition of a ban by the provincial government.

He said the health department also mentioned in its comments that the consumption of gutka and mainpuri could cause mouth cancer, but still the manufacturing and sale of such hazardous products had been going because of negligence on the part of the food department as well as because of police patronage. 

PPP MPA plea 

The Sindh High Court directed a special prosecutor of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file comments to confirm whether or not a corruption inquiry against MPA Syed Ali Mardan Shah of the Pakistan Peoples Party had been completed. The directive came during the hearing of a petition of former provincial minister for population welfare Syed Ali Mardan Shah against the initiation of an inquiry against him by NAB.

Shah, who was the minister for population welfare in the previous PPP government, moved the court against a decision of NAB’s executive board to initiate an inquiry against him over charges of misuse of authority and embezzlement of government funds.

The petitioner’s counsel said NAB had initiated the investigation against his client in 2015, and no final report had been submitted by the bureau so far.  

The special prosecutor sought time to submit a report on the fate of the inquiry, saying that the matter with regard to giving approval to or closing the probe was pending with the NAB chairman.