The Lahore High Court threw out a petition against Punjab's planned 10-day Basant festival in 2027 as withdrawn after the filer could not prove the case was maintainable.
Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry presided over the case brought by citizen Shahid Islam, who opposed the government schedule to run the festival from January 29 to February 7, 2027.
Early in the hearing, the judge asked how anyone could contest the proposed event without an official government notification. The attorney for the petitioner replied that the details came from newspaper stories and the official government website.
Justice Chaudhry stated that a lawsuit cannot rest on unconfirmed details, telling the counsel to secure the official notification before filing a challenge. He pointed out that the right to information law allows people to request a certified copy.
The judge additionally called upon the additional registrar for judicial matters to clarify why the absent notification did not trigger an objection when the petition underwent initial scrutiny.
When the counsel brought up a past Basant ban and claimed fatalities occurred during the event last year, the judge instructed him to stick strictly to legal arguments.
The bench additionally showed frustration when the petitioner kept interrupting the hearing even though he had legal counsel. The court then dismissed the petition as withdrawn, avoiding any judgment on the actual merits of the festival.
