SC wants landfills developed within a month

Justice Bandial says waste disposal sites exist only on paper

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed annoyance over the performance of Islamabad Municipal Corporation (IMC) and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in the Bani Gala encroachment case and adjourned hearing of the case for one month.

The apex court has given a month’s deadline to civic bodies of the city for making appropriate arrangements regarding garbage dumping sites.

The court rejected all existing reports in this regard and summoned Capital Development Authority (CDA) Chairman Amer Ahmed Ali and Islamabad Mayor Anser Aziz in the hearing.

A three-member bench of SC led by Justice Umar Ata Bandial was presiding over the case.

The bench remarked that the authorities were misleading the court on the issue.

During the course of proceeding, Justice Bandial remarked that dumping site existed only in papers. He was disgruntled over the fact that the court was being misled by the authorities on the issue.

Environmental health problems of open waste dumping

He said that the secretary interior ministry was also summoned in last proceeding but he treated the court in a bureaucratic manner. “Why shall we not take action against the interior secretary, CDA chairman and Islamabad mayor?” he added.

The court was adjourned for a brief period and summoned CDA Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed and Mayor Anser Aziz in the proceeding.

When the hearing resumed with Justice Bandial remarks that the authorities showed them photos of craters they had dug when the court inquired about WLC project.

The project cost has increased by Rs1 billion and the authorities were telling that it would take four more years to complete, he added and said to the civic heads, “You did a good job by banning plastic bags but should also do something to dump bones as well as rotten peels of vegetables and fruits in the city.”

Justice Bandial maintained that the court did not want paperwork but practical implementation.

Testimony of the mayor

Islamabad Mayor Anser Aziz told the court that for the first time they tried to award waste disposal contract to a company and for this purpose they would have to summon tenders.

He added that Islamabad Municipal Corporation (IMC) has been struggling financially and has no funds even to pay salaries to its employees.

At this, the court suggested that IMC should give contract of small-scale projects and highlighted that it could not only produce electricity from the waste but also retrieve financial benefit.

Mayor asserted that various companies claimed that it was not possible for them to develop small-scale garbage-to-electricity projects whereas even if presumably they were built, cost of electricity from them would be very high.

At this, Justice Aijazul Hasan said that such kinds of projects received subsidy all over the world while the government needed to find effective and cheap solution for such kind of problems.

Meanwhile, Justice Hasan also expressed that the authorities could not supplicate to the government for every small project and they should generate their own resources.

'I like plastic': Pakistan's toxic 'love affair' with waste

Juctice Bandial asserted that the court sought concrete progress on the issue and adjourned the hearing after directing the authorities to submit a report in a month.

Cases transferred

In the garrison town, the litigants have taken a sigh of relief as the experiment of model court on magistrate level in Rawalpindi district court is producing remarkable results.

District and Sessions Judge Rana Masood Akhtar has transferred some 22 long-pending cases to Model Court Special Magistrate Umar Javed Wirk. The related crime cases are pending for years in lower courts of Rawalpindi.

In this regard, the circulars and lists of cases have also been displayed in sessions and model courts along with district bar while the lawyers associated with these cases have also been directed to ensure their presence in the proceeding.

ATC adjourns cases

Special Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATCs) have adjourned six different cases against workers of a religious political party.

The cases against workers of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) were related to causing turmoil, extortion, provocative speech, possession of explosive material and terrorism and were adjourned to different dates after proceeding. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2019.