Karachi: Rejecting a Punjab province plea to allow the flying of kites during Basant festival, the Supreme Court pulled up the provincial Government for violating its earlier order banning the sport that has claimed many lives.

A nine-member bench of the apex court headed by the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry noted that the Punjab government's announcement allowing the flying of kites on Basant was a violation of an order issued by the court last October.

Many people, including children, have lost their lives during the Basant festival which marks the start of spring in Punjab after being cut by razor-sharp flying strings of the kites glazed with shredded glass.

The Punjab Advocate General Chaudhry Aftab and Additional Advocate General Khadim Hussain Qaisar appeared before the court on behalf of the Provincial government.

They submitted report of the chief secretary, Punjab, about the Court's earlier orders. The court expressed dissatisfaction over the chief secretary's report and ordered the provincial government to file a complete and detailed report on the issue.

The court also ordered Geo News correspondent Abdul Qayyum Siddiqui to present a footage of a news conference by Punjab's Chairman P&D Salman Ghani, in which he had announced the lifting of the ban on kite-flying in the province.