Model Town inquiry report: LHC seeks concluding arguments tomorrow

LAHORE :Expressing annoyance over vacant posts of the Punjab chief information commissioner (CIC) and other other keys officers at the Punjab Information Commission, a full bench of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday asked the Punjab government to furnish its separate reply to this extent.
The issue of CIC came to fore before the bench led by Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh during hearing of an intra-court appeal moved by the government challenging a decision of a single bench about publication of Model Town tragedy inquiry report.
Counsel for victim families Advocate Azhar Siddique refuted government’s argument that petitioners had not availed first available remedy under the law. He argued that the first remedy was available with the Information Commission but it was unable to address the grievance of people affected by the Model Town incident. He represented some of the heirs to the victims and defended the order passed by a single bench for publication of “Justice Najafi Report” of the 2014 firing incident.
Advocate Siddique argued that the alternative remedy had become ineffective due to dysfunctional Information Commission. While, he said, the home secretary had already dismissed an application of the victims for the provision of the report to them. Therefore, the petitioners were left with no other option but to approach the high court for the provision of the report, he said while concluding his arguments.
The lawyer pointed out that the Information Commission was not fully functional as posts of its chief information commissioner and two members had been lying vacant for a long period. He said the government recently appointed its loyalist former MNA Advocate Naseer Ahmad Bhutta as chief information commissioner on political grounds. However, he also resigned after some days owing to criticism and litigation.
The bench directed the government to submit a separate reply about the unavailability of the CIC and other officials. Earlier, Advocate Khwaja Ahmad Tariq Rahim also closed his arguments with a note that the bench had no need to go into technical points raised by the government but to decide as to what the law required. He said most of the judgments relied upon by the government to establish its authority to not release the report were irrelevant to the case. Azam Nazir Tarar and Ali Zia Bajwa also concluded their arguments on behalf of two policemen facing trial in the Model Town killing case. The bench adjourned the hearing till November 24 and directed government’s counsel to come up with his concluding arguments.