LHC seeks govt reply on plea against e-tickets

LAHORE:The Lahore High Court on Friday directed a provincial law officer to present a court’s order in light of which Punjab Safe City Authority (PSCA) had been issuing e-challan to the motorists on violation of traffic rules.

Justice Shams Mahmood Mirza was hearing a petition challenging the legitimacy of the e-challan being issued by the authority. During the hearing, a law officer admitted that there was no legislation so far to issue e-challan. However, he said, the e-challan had been issued in accordance with an order by a court.

The judge observed that the government should be ashamed of it for recovering money from the citizens without any law. The judge directed the law officer to present on the next hearing the order of the court that called for the e-challan.

TikTok: The Lahore High Court on Friday issued notices to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and other respondents on a petition seeking a ban on various social media applications including TikTok, Bigo Live and Likee. Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti took up a civil miscellaneous application filed by Advocate Waqas Anwar Gujjar in his pending petition. The lawyer referred to some recent incidents wherein young men lost their lives while making videos for TikTok. He said several applications had been filed with the PTA and other respondent authorities but no action had been taken against the social media applications. He said these applications had become a source of waste of time for the youngsters.

The lawyer stated that these applications had been spreading vulgarity in the society. He said Pakistan is an Islamic country and the state should take swift action to protect its youth from falling prey to immorality and obscenity.