PHOTO: STOCK IMAGE
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday ordered the managing director of the Karachi Water and Sewage Board (KWSB), the deputy commission (DC) of District West and SSP of Baldia Town police to supply water on fair basis to Baldia Town. The court summoned the city's DCs and SSPs to the next hearing.
A two-member bench, comprising Justice KK Agha and Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi, was hearing a contempt of court petition against the KWSB MD, for failing to provide water in Ittehad Town, Baldia. Over 100 residents of the area, as well as the KWSB MD, DC West and SSP of Baldia Town, appeared before the court.
Advocate Munsif Jan, the petitioner's lawyer, maintained that three contractors were selling water under the supervision of the water board, providing it to whoever they pleased in exchange for thousands of rupees. He alleged that water was being stolen under the patronage of the KWSB and the deputy commissioner.
Police officials claimed that the 'water mafia' had occupied three pumping stations in Baldia Town.
Contending with our growing water scarcity
The court ordered the KWSB, the DC and the police to take action against the water thieves. The bench also directed them to provide a fair water supply to the area, warning that it would take action against the KWSB MD if this was not done within 15 days.
Summoning all of the city's DCs and SSPs, the court sought a response from the deputy commissioners of all areas regarding the distribution of water in the city.
When Jan stated that he and the petitioner were being threatened for filing the application, the court ordered the provision of security for them.
The hearing was adjourned until January 14.
Appeals approved
The bench also approved appeals against the sentences of three culprits in the murder of cleric Allama Hassan Turabi, while rejecting the appeals of three others.
The court approved the appeals of Mohammad Akbar, Mohammad Ashraf and Raheemullah, ordering their release. However, it rejected the appeals of Mohammad Amin, Sultan Mehmood and Mohammad Raheem.
According to the police, an anti-terrorism court had awarded death sentences to Amin, Mehmood and Raheem, and life imprisonment to Akbar, Ashraf and Raheemullah.
Turabi, a prominent Shia cleric, and his young nephew were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside Turabi's residence in 2006.
Providing gas
The same bench also adjourned the hearing of a case pertaining to the supply of gas to villages located within five kilometres of gas fields in the province.
The bench was hearing a case related to the implementation of a Supreme Court (SC) order.
With the Centre opposing the supply of gas to these villages, the counsel for the federal and provincial government argued that there was no law in the country that mandated the provision of gas to villages within five kilometres of gas fields.
Baldia factory fire: Hearing adjourned due to incomplete statements
Reading out the SC order, the Sindh advocate general argued that the apex court had ordered the provision of gas to the villages according to the law, but there was no law in this regard.
The court inquired whether the SC could make a decision outside the law, and the advocate general responded that the SC should not do so.
"We cannot change the decision of the Supreme Court," remarked the bench.
Stating that the federal government was only ready to provide security for the gas field, the advocate-general completed his argument.
The additional hearing of the case was adjourned until January 13 due to the absence of the Attorney General of Pakistan and judicial assistant Makhdoom Ali Khan.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2019.
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