Fact-Check: Penalty of Rs5,000 for washing car at home in Lahore

Pakistani social media users and news channels have repeatedly shared claims that the Lahore High Court (LHC) has imposed a fine of Rs3,000 on those who wash their cars at home.

The claim is misleading. While the Court has indeed ordered that car owners pay up for wasting water, the payable fine is Rs5,000 and not Rs3,000.

Claim

On October 5, a verified Facebook user wrote: “The Lahore High Court orders to fine people Rs3,000 for washing their cars at home.”

The user further added that the money collected from the fine will be deposited in the treasury of the state’s Water and Sanitation Agency.

The post has been liked over 700 times and shared 36 times, at the time of writing.

Similar claims also took off on X, formerly known as Twitter, here and here.

Fact

In reality, the Lahore High Court has imposed a fine of Rs5,000 for using a garden hose to wash vehicles in Lahore, Punjab, as per the order seen by Geo Fact Check.

Hearing a petition related to the environment, Justice Shahid Karim ruled on October 5 that the issue of water conservation required the attention of the Punjab government.

After reviewing a report from the government-run Parks and Horticulture Authority and the Judicial Water Commission, the judge directed “a fine of Rs5,000 to be imposed on anyone found using a hose and pipe water for washing cars" in Lahore.

The order further instructed the authorities to forward the court’s verdict to all housing societies in Punjab and to use the services of the Dolphin police to ensure that there are no violations.

With additional reporting by Muhammad Binyameen Iqbal.

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