"Chapli kabab" is one of the delicacies of Pakistani cuisine but its poor quality in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province has irked the Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court.
Taking suo moto notice of the use of poor quality meat and the sale of substandard "chapli kabab" in Peshawar and across the province, Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan summoned officials of several departments and directed them to explain why they had failed to check "illegal practices that pose a risk to human lives".
The officials summoned by the High Court included the secretary and director general of the health department, the director food, Peshawar police chief and director general of the livestock department.
Khan took action after he received a complaint from the High Court's Human Rights Directorate that was based on a news report about the use of substandard oil, meat from dead animals and other hazardous items in "chapli kababs", The News daily reported today.
A division bench led by the Chief Justice issued a notice to the Chief Secretary to explain why secretaries and administrative officers working under him were not fulfilling their duty to monitor adulteration in food items.
The bench said it was unbelievable that reporters of a newspaper with limited resources could find out and investigate illegalities, but many government departments with budgets of billions of rupees were doing nothing to check these unlawful acts.
The Chief Justice observed that he had time and again asked authorities to amend the outdated and ineffective Food Ordinance 1965 but no one had brought any changes to the law.
