Waterways: SHC orders stay in watercourse from Tando Allahyar canal

Petitioners manage to overturn CM’s approval to build water outlet.

HYDERABAD:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued a stay order against the direct outlet of watercourses from the Naseer Branch canal in Tando Allahyar on Thursday. The outlet had been approved by the Sindh chief minister.

The petitioner, Dr Rahila Magsi, claimed that the chief minister approved the watercourse without seeking the cabinet’s approval or considering the rules. Justice Ghulam Sarwar Korai’s circuit bench heard the case. The petition was filed by Magsi, who is the former district nazim of Tando Allahyar Muhammad Mohsin, Nazar Hussain Rind and Abdullah Noondani.

Dr Irfan Gul Magsi, former Sindh revenue minister and Dr Rahila’s brother, claimed that, as tail-end cultivators, they will be deprived of irrigation water if the watercourse is built.

The petitioner cited the irrigation secretary, Sukkur Barrage chief irrigation engineer, Naseer division executive engineer, SDO irrigation Sanjar Chang and the assistant executive engineer as respondents from the government while Qambar Ali Jalbani and Jaffar Ali Jalbani are private respondents in the case.

The petitioners’ lawyer, advocate Ayatullah Khawaja, submitted that irrigation officials claim that water shortages are the reason that his clients are not supplied a share, however the Jalbanis are getting water regularly.

Khawaja claimed that the Jalbanis hold considerable sway in the area and have the ruling party’s support. This has helped their case for a separate outlet from Naseer Branch. He claimed that the case was processed illegally and approved by the irrigation officials and the CM.

The court said that the approval was given in breach of the Sindh Irrigation Act, 1879, and ordered that the watercourse operation be suspended till the next hearing. The hearing is scheduled to get underway on July 1 and all the respondents have been notified.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2011.