SH. AHMAD FAROOQ, J:-Through the instant petition, under Article 199 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, the petitioners have prayed for passing a direction to respondents Nos. 1 to 5 to ensure the printing of the "Holy Quran" on newsprint of not less than 52 grammage as required in the Publication of Holy Quran (Elimination of Printing and Recording Errors) Act, 1973 and the rules made thereunder and make arrangement for availability of such paper without imposition of excise duty. The petitioners also sought a direction for using modern scientific methods for preservation/disposal/recycling of the damaged or 'shaheedcopies of the "Holy Quran" in conformity with its sanctity.
2. Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that it is moral as well as statutory duty of the respondents to ensure printing of the text of the "Holy Quran" on the best quality of paper or newsprint of not less than 52 grammage, but they are negligent towards fulfilment of their duty, as a result of which, newsprint of much inferior quality is being consumed by the publishers who nowadays even do not shy in using paper of 35 grammage equivalent to the paper of an ordinary newspaper, which worn out or damaged after a short span of time. He further submitted that the respondents are also failing in their duty to make a proper arrangement for collection of damaged or 'shaheedcopies of the "Holy Quran" and for their preservation/recycling in a sacrosanct manner.
He argued that the petitioners have made several efforts to raise their voice up to the floors of Senate and National Assembly seeking appropriate enactment for protection and preservation of the "Holy Book", but they remained unresponded up to the highest echelon.
3. Respondents filed their parawise comments to the writ petition, wherein, they admitted that as per rule 4 of the Publication of Holy Quran (Elimination of Printing and Recording Errors) Rules, 1973, the minimum grammage for the printing of "Holy Quran" is fixed 52 grammage, but the availability of paper is an issues of free market economy and does not fall within the domain of Auqaf and Religious Department. However, the Auqaf Department is taking legal action against the publishers, who were found printing the ."Holy Quran" on less than 52 grammage paper. He contended that as far as the matter of preservation of 'shaheedQuranic Aurraq is concerned, every Muslim, who has such 'Aurraqs', is under religious obligation to dispose of the same in a respectable manner.
4. The learned Additional Advocate-General has informed this Court that by virtue of 18th Amendment in the Constitution, the subjects of Auqaf and Islamic Education have been devolved on the Provinces and consequently, a new provincial law on this subject has just been enacted to ensure publication of the text of the "Holy Quran" tree from errors of printing and proper disposal of the damaged or 'shaheedcopies of the "Holy Quran". The new enactment is called "The Punjab Holy Quran (Printing and Recording) Act, 2011". The very preamble of the Act ibid provides that it has been enacted to ensure publication of the text of the "Holy Quran" free from errors of printing and recording and for proper disposal of damaged or 'shaheedcopies of the "Holy Quran". The learned Additional Advocate-General further submitted that in the aforesaid Act almost all reservations of the petitioners have been taken care of. He also clarified that the rules under the aforesaid Act, 2011 are yet to be framed and for that purpose, the Chief Minister of Punjab on 14-3-2011, has constituted a committee, who will submit its final recommendations for approval. The proposed committee is comprised of following members.
(i) Chairman, Punjab Quran Board (Convener)
(ii)Representative of Law Department not below the rank of Additional Secretary (Member)
(iii)Representative of Finance Department not below the rank of Additional Secretary (Member)
(iv)Representative of Auqaf and Religious Affairs Department not below the rank of Additional Secretary. (Member)
(v)Four Members of the Punjab Quran Board, one Member from each sect to be nominated by the Minister Auqaf and Religious Affairs.(Member)
(vi)President, Anjuman Nashran-e-Holy Quran (Member)
The learned Additional Advocate General argued that the petitioners in their prayer clause have virtually sought enforcement of principles of Policy contained in Part-II, Chapter-2 of the Constitution, which cannot be done by this court in exercise of its constitutional jurisdiction inasmuch as they do not involve any infringement of fundamental rights.
5. Arguments heard. Record perused.
6. I am not persuaded to agree with the arguments of the learned Additional Advocate-General that correct printing of the "Holy Quran" is only a matter of principle of policy, as envisaged in Article 31 contained in Part-II, Chapter 2 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 and not enforceable by judicial process. Principles of Policy set out in Chapter 2 of Part II Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, are, in fact, the aspirations of the Constitution makers, which are intended to be considered as the guiding principles of the policy of the State.
According to Article 31 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the State shall endeavour to secure correct and exact printing and publishing of the "Holy Quran". Every organ of the State under Article 29 of the Constitution has been conferred responsibility to act in accordance with the principles of policy enshrined in Part-II, Chapter 2 of the Constitution. It has been held in the case of Shahab Matloob v. Government of Province of Sindh through Chief Secretary, Karachi and 5 others PLD 1993 Karachi 83 that principles of policy enshrined in Chapter 2 of Part-II, can always be called in aid for the purpose of interpretation of any legal provision or instrument. The same principles has been laid down in judgment reported as Mir Ghulam Abid Khan v. Pakistan through Secretary and another 2000 CLC 443 that the constitutional obligation and commitment must be honoured to consolidate public confidence and non-fulfilment of liabilities and obligations by the Government was violative of the fundamental principles of Policy guaranteed under the Constitution. Hence, the respondents are under a constitutional duty to secure correct and exact printing and publishing of "Holy Quran" as provided in Article 31 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. A new law titled "The Punjab Holy Quran (Printing and Recording) Act, 2011" has been enacted in the recent past and the rules under the Act ibid are yet to be made. Therefore, the respondent No,4/Secretary to the Government of Punjab, Auqaf Department, Lahore may consider the proposals of the petitioners in the Rule Framing Process in the committee constituted by the Chief Minister of the Punjab for the purpose comprising of religious scholars of Islamic Jurisprudence and representatives of the Government having profound knowledge of Islamic Ideology. The committee, so constituted, shall make the rules for printing of the text of the "Holy Quran" free from errors on quality paper of required grammage and devise measures for disposal of the damaged/shaheed copies of the "Holy Quran" in conformity with its sanctity. To achieve the above objective, the respondents are directed:--
(i) to consider the inclusion of the petitioners in the Rule Framing Committee and finalize the rules after taking into consideration their suggestions and proposals;
(ii) to ensure printing of the "Holy Quran" on 52 grammage pure pulp paper with the view to eliminate/minimize the damage to the "Holy Quran" by framing appropriate rules under the Act;
(iii) to enforce and implement the provisions of the aforesaid Act, 2011 by framing the requisite rules for effective and necessary legal action against all the violators;
(iv) to devise ways and means and prescribe procedure/suitable arrangement for the purpose of monitoring, regulating the collections and disposal of dilapidated scripts of the "Holy Quran" in conformity with its sanctity, and also set up procedure for retrieving, preserving and recycling the damaged/shaheed copies of the "Holy Quran";
(v) to consider the feasibility of making recommendations to the Federal Government for importing the required paper on payment of concessional duty.
7. With the above observations, the instant petition is disposed of.