The Lahore High Court ordered authorities to immediately arrest anyone driving cars or motorcycles without a license on Friday. The orders came in a case regarding the alleged death of six people at the hands of an underaged driver.
Justice Ali Zia Bajwa had summoned Lahore’s senior superintendent operations and chief traffic officer on Friday. The court told the officers that they would be given time to file their reports.
However, the CTO made the surprising revelation in court that there are approximately 7.3 million vehicles being used in the city but only 1.3 million had licenses.
The judge remarked that this was a massive difference and asked the CTO what was being done about the issue.
The CTO said that license centres in the city had been increased from six to 30 and three centres were being operated for all 24 hours.
He also said that 90 checkpoints had been established in the city to check driver licenses and 88 people had already been arrested.
The judge also questioned what could be done about people who hand over vehicles to underaged drivers. The CTO replied that this was a crime under the law.
The CTO also revealed that the excise department cannot register a vehicle unless a driver has a license. The judge remarked that the excise depratment would have to be sent a notice in the case as well.
An underaged driver named Afnan has been accused of killing six people in a collision in Lahore’s defence. Government sources later revealed that an ‘intentional’ collision could have led to the incident.