The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has ordered the provincial government to take strict action against vehicles with number plates bearing unauthorized references to departments, professions, or specific communities.
The directive was issued by Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim of PHC, ordering the government that no private vehicle should be allowed to have a number plate mentioning the owner’s profession or community.
The order was issued during the hearing of a drugs smuggling case, where the Toyota Hilux Vigo double-cabin used by the accused had ‘Member Peshawar High Court Bar Council’ written on its number plate. Â
The accused, Sikander Azam, applied for bail in the province’s top court but Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim rejected his plea. The suspect was trying to smuggle the drugs while pretending to be a member of the provincial bar council.Â
The high court expressed its displeasure over such incidents, involving criminals using fake number plates and, notably, those displaying unauthorized affiliations with government departments to dodge the authorities during routine searches.
The court underscored the importance of taking timely action against this illegal practice as it could greatly damage the reputation of government departments. Authorities have been authorized to take legal action against individuals with personalized number plates, whether they are affiliated with the departments or not.
PHC has ordered the removal of all such number plates from vehicles immediately. The additional registrar of the court was ordered to send copies of the order to top officials, including the Chief Secretary, IG police, DG excise and taxation, DG prosecution, and secretary of the KP Bar Council.
Zero progress on this despite several orders and admonishing officers. Govt number plates vehicles are mostly in use of officers wives or family more then themselves. If citizens knows that why not traffic police?