Pakistani court increases fine on smoke-emitting vehicles ten times

LAHORE – The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday ordered for increasing fine on smoke-emitting vehicles from Rs 200 to 2000 for controlling smog.

The court also ordered impounding such vehicles for three days.

Justice Shahid Karim passed the orders while allowing recommendations submitted by Environment Commission in a petition questioning failure to overcome rising smog.

A focal person of the commission submitted the recommendations before the court, stating that the commission had recommended for increasing the fine on smoke-emitting vehicles from Rs 200 to Rs 2000 as a measure to control rising smog issue.

The commission has also suggested that motor vehicle bill was pending for the past six years and the Finance department should forward the bill to cabinet, he added. The focal person submitted that the commission had also recommended to ban Chingchi rickshaws on all model roads.

At this, the court approved the recommendations forwarded by the commission and ordered for increasing fine besides direction to the Finance department for forwarding the motor vehicle bill to the cabinet.