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IHC chief justice seeks inquiry report on Pims fire and details of action taken
🇵🇰 Pakistan /Crime & Justice

IHC chief justice seeks inquiry report on Pims fire and details of action taken

From Dawn · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Under investigation
  • The Islamabad High Court sought the government’s report on the Pims hospital fire and details of action taken after 14 children died.
  • Lawyers seeking a judicial inquiry questioned whether bureaucratic committees could fairly investigate officials from their own department, while the chief justice questioned the court’s legal authority to order such an inquiry.
  • The health secretary and hospital officials were suspended, and the court ordered the federal government to provide a detailed response.

The Islamabad High Court has demanded the inquiry report submitted to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif after a fire at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences killed 14 children.

Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfaraz Dogar issued the directions while hearing two petitions linked to the tragedy. One petition, filed by lawyer Qasim Iqbal Jalali, sought a judicial inquiry. The petitioner’s counsel challenged the government’s use of bureaucratic committees, asking how officials from one department could investigate their own colleagues.

How can bureaucrats inquire into their own department?

— Petitioner’s counselThe lawyer challenged the impartiality of government committees investigating the hospital fire.

The chief justice called the fire a terrible incident but questioned the legal basis for ordering a judicial inquiry. He asked under which law the court could issue such a direction and noted that a commission formed after an earlier Punjab Institute of Cardiology incident had not been created by the court. He said such matters generally fell within the government’s domain, while adding that he could ask one of his judges to examine any matter properly before the court.

No one can be the judge of his own actions.

— Petitioner’s counselThe counsel argued that responsibility had not been properly assigned in the interim inquiry.

The Additional Attorney General told the court that the health secretary had been suspended on the day of the fire. Hospital officials were later suspended on the basis of an interim inquiry report. Justice Dogar asked whether further action was still being taken and whether any legal restriction prevented the court from issuing an order.

A second petition sought the removal of the Pims executive director and action over the deaths. The executive director had already been suspended. The petitioner’s lawyer also raised questions about hospital conditions and the use of its annual budget, which was described as roughly 20 billion to 22 billion Pakistani rupees. The court directed the federal government to submit the prime minister’s report, details of action taken so far and a detailed response.

How can the court give a direction to remove him from the post?

— Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfaraz DogarThe chief justice questioned whether the court had authority to order the Pims executive director’s removal.
About this summary

Originally published by Dawn in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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