The city's garbage is piling up but the solid waste management board is doing nothing, says the mayor. PHOTO: ONLINE
A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Munib Akhtar, will hear arguments from the additional advocate-general and the lawyer representing the Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan and its mayor on July 28.
During Monday's proceedings, Barrister Farogh Naseem for the petitioners pleaded to the court to conduct an early hearing on the petition, as it was a matter of urgency. He argued that the whole system of cleanliness and garbage collection in the largest city of the country had become ineffective.
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He said neither were treatment plants operating nor was clean drinking water available to residents of the city, adding that heaps of garbage had piled up all over the metropolis, resulting in an outbreak of diseases such as chikungunya.
Barrister Naseem argued that the establishment of the solid waste management board by the provincial government was illegal, as was observed by the Supreme Court, which had ordered to dissolve the same.
Meanwhile, AAG Barrister Ghulam Mustafa Mahesar filed a reply on behalf of the managing director of the solid waste management board.
He opposed the plea for an urgent hearing of the petition, arguing that the matter did not involve any urgency. He said the petitioners were pressing the issue for their own political gain.
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The bench fixed the matter on July 18 with direction to the lawyers representing the parties to come prepared to argue on the point whether or not the matter involved urgency. The judges will decide whether or not the matter should be heard on a daily basis on the next date of the hearing.
Case history
Jointly filing a petition with his party, MQM-Pakistan, Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar had maintained that the SSWMB was established under the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board Act, 2014 with functions to cater to the needs of the people and was being run by the Sindh government since its establishment.
The mayor had referred to a Supreme Court ruling where the apex court had ordered that the 'non-functional board [SSWMB] has never performed and should be devolved to the local bodies as provided under the rules of business'. He had contended that despite the directives of the Supreme Court, the relevant provincial authorities had not taken any steps to transfer the functions of the board to the elected local bodies.
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Akhtar had pleaded to the court to direct the concerned authorities to transfer all the assets falling under the umbrella of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board Act, 2014 to the local government institutions. He had further requested the SHC to direct the respondents to give complete details of all the funds they had received for the purpose of solid waste management and to appoint a reputable auditor to ascertain the facts.
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