IHC seeks pollution control order implementation

Sends notices to CDA chairman, secretaries of interior and climate change

ISLAMABAD: The chief of apex civic agency of the federal capital and secretaries of interior and climate change have been put on notice for failing to comply with a court decision regarding the implementation of recommendations made by a commission formed for the eradication of environmental pollution in the federal capital.

In this regard, a single-member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), comprising its Chief Justice Ather Minallah, on Friday issued a notice stating that the federal government has failed to implement the court’s decision dated July 9, 2018.

The decision had ordered the government to activate an environmental tribunal within 90 days (by October 2018) or take steps to prioritize environmental protection.

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The IHC had further directed to appoint Dr Pervez Hassan as the chairman of the implementation committee. The committee was to implement the recommendations of the environmental commission formed in 2015. Federal Minister Asad Umar was also part of the commission.

The court made it clear that such a vital issue is not amongst the government's priorities and directed Interior Secretary Azam Suleman Khan, Climate Change Secretary Naheed Durrani and Capital Development Authority Chairman Aamer Ali Ahmed to send their representatives to the court and explain why legal action should not be taken against them for violating the court order.

In a decision dated April 19, 2018, to eliminate environmental pollution in Islamabad, Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani had ordered that the federal government implement town planning in six months (till October 2018). Establish an Environmental Commission consisting of internationally renowned professional experts in the field of Environmental Management and Finance, which will work out its TOR and make recommendations to the government.

The chief commissioner was directed to ensure that If any building deviates from the recommendations of the commission within the limits of Islamabad, the court also made the recommendations of the commission of October 19, 2015 part of the decision and ordered immediate implementation of them.

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According to the court decision, the construction of illegal buildings is a big risk for the environment of the federal capital. The court had directed the federal government to appoint Dr Hassan as the chairman of the implementation committee as he was also the head of the 2015 commission whose recommendations had to be implemented. The court had ruled that no building will be allowed in Islamabad until the federal government issued a certificate in light of the commission's recommendations on environmental pollution.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2020.