Netizens were displeased at the excesses of the Lahore High Court (LHC) after the court’s registrar sought quotations from companies on prices of expensive Apple products to be possibly used by court officials.
Journalist Hasnaat Ahmad posted a copy of the letter in which the LHC Deputy Registrar Procurement Riaz Ahmad invited ‘well-reputed firms’ to submit ‘sealed bids’ of the Apple Macbook Pro 16-inch laptop and Iphone 12-Pro Max or their equivalents to his office.
The letter stated that the firms should be registered with the relevant taxation departments and that the bidding would be conducted in a two-step process in accordance with the Punjab Procurement Rules 2014. Ahmad added that a similar request was made earlier for provision of a 75-inch LED to be used in the LHC Chief Justice House.
Journalist Asad Ali Toor responded to the letter and took a jab at the ‘luxurious tastes’ of high-ups at the LHC, all at the expense of taxpayers in the country. He wondered if it was reasonable to expect that the chief justice would himself embody justice instead of just doing justice.
Another user took a critical look at the letter demanding that the bid be deposited with a security that equalled 3% of the total price of the items. He added that if the security itself was Rs. 23,040 then the total burden to taxpayers for the LHC splurge would be approximately Rs768,000.
One user did not object to the use of high-end laptops and mobiles as they would be used for work at the LHC but was not amused by the previous LED purchase.
Earlier, a tender was issued by the court to procure a 75-inch LED for Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti. A citizen, Qais M. Hussain responded to the tender in an open letter and questioned whether Justice Bhatti knew the burden his expenditures would place on the common man. Hussain offered to raise the money for the LED instead, which he estimated to be around Rs575,000, according to a 3% security bid of Rs17,500 that was cited in the original tender notice by the LHC registrar.
