Personal photos on official documents not allowed: SC.

ISLAMABAD -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that self-projection by holders of public office on government records and self-aggrandisement at public expense was not permissible.

'To name public/government properties and anything planAned, developed and/or managed from public/government funds or to project oneself ... by getting one's photograph affixed on the 'Sanad-i-Haqooq Milkiat' violates the Constitution, undermines Pakistan's Islamic moorings, and therefore without lawful authority, and, if one may add, is also in bad taste,' said a five-page order authored by Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

The document in question, Sanad-i-Haqooq Milkiat (certificate of proprietary right), was issued by the Directorate General of Katchi Abadis in favour of slum dwellers in Punjab and carried the chief minister's image.

'If someone names a public/government place or property after themselves or affixes their own name or image on a public/government document, it is self-glorification, and if this is done by others, it would constitute obedience, flattery, nepotism and/or corruption,' Justice Isa explained.

Justice Isa observes Pakistan is not a kingdom or fiefdom in which people are to be beholden to rulers

'Pakistan is not a kingdom, principality or fiefdom in which the people are to be beholden to their rulers.

'We must remain constantly vigilant in maintaining the couAntry's independence and democratic credentials,' Justice Isa emphasised.

Politicians, and all those who render public service, are best immortalised for what they do in office because it may happen that during their lifetime, some undesirable fact might crop up and stain their reputation, the judge observed.

The issue cropped up during the hearing of an appeal against a decision by the Lahore High Court's Rawalpindi bench on Oct 17, 2018, to allow private resApondents to file a writ petition.

The petition was filed becAause a sub-registrar in RawalApindi district had refused to register sale deeds, leases and other documents of those who had acquired properties which were declared a katchi abadi by the Punjab government on Dec 14, 1989, under the Punjab Katchi Abadis Act.

These lands were declared as katchi abadi on a written request by the mayor of Rawalpindi on July 27, 1987.

Although the court declined the appeal, it picked up an ancillary matter that came to its notice.

The judgement explained that government properties, documents and funds must be used in a transparent manner and by...