KARACHI Dec 23 (TNS): A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar, on Saturday resumed hearing into a petition seeking directives for the provincial government to provide potable water and safe environment in the province at Karachi Registry.
The court has summoned details of the industrial treatment plan of KPC-1 project from Sindh government for today’s hearing.
At the last hearing on Dec 6, the CJP asked Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to ensure provision of potable water to residents of the province, besides taking measures for safe environment.
The chief minister was summoned to explain the measures his government has taken to ensure provision of safe drinking water, better environment and sanitation facilities to citizens, besides former Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal to provide details of various projects that were undertaken by the provincial government in his tenure as the city mayor.
During the hearing at the apex court’s Karachi registry, CJP Nisar offered the CM to use the court’s shoulder to resolve the issues, saying it was the strong one.
“We were elected by votes of the people, therefore, ours are the stronger shoulders,” Shah quipped.
He conceded that the North Sindh Urban Services Corporation (NSUSC), which was set up to lift garbage from urban cities of the province, was not a workable project.
Did the government fix the responsibility for its failure, the CJP asked. When the CM failed to come up with satisfactory reply, he said how shameful it was that no one was held responsible for that.
“The reason behind summoning you to the court is to make you realise the gravity of the issue,” he observed and asked the CM to suggest a solution of the problems and give a written undertaking, outlining the time frame for mitigating water woes.
Shah told the judges that he was already concerned about the issue of water.
“I am seeing smile on the faces of the people on this statement of yours,” the chief justice remarked.
He said this matter relates to the fundamental rights of the people and the court was empowered to step in if the executive authorities failed to live up to their responsibilities.
Meanwhile, the bench directed the chief minister to conduct a probe into the allotment of the 50 acres of the land reserved for Mehmoodabad treatment plant for residential purposes
Advocate Shahab Usto had moved the court against the failure of the provincial government to provide potable water, better sanitation and environment to citizens.
At the last hearing, CJP Nisar clarified that there would be no compromise on air and water pollution issue as this was a matter of the lives of people.
The apex court had earlier constituted a judicial commission, headed by Justice Iqbal Kalhoro of the Sindh High Court, to probe failure of the government in providing safe water to the people of the province.
