SHC orders repair of 10 fire tenders in as many days

Dismisses Rao Anwar’s plea seeking exemption from attending Naqeebullah hearings

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court ordered on Thursday the repair of 10 fire tenders within the next 10 days and summoned the Sindh Building Control Authority director-general.

A two-member bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, was hearing a plea pertaining frequent fire incidents and fire safety laws. At the hearing, the counsel for the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) informed the court that six out of 30 outof-order fire tenders in Karachi had been repaired. KMC’s counsel stated that out of 30 out-of-order fire tenders, 6 fire tenders have been repaired.

“It was only after court issued directives regarding the matter that the federal government realised that it too needed to provide fire tenders [for the city],” the counsel added, further informing the court that 50 fire tenders procured by the federal government were stationed at the port. Following this briefing, the court directed the relevant authorities to ensure that 24 fire tenders that were still out of order should be repaired soon.

“Of these, 10 should be repaired within the next 10 days,” said Justice Mazhar.

When the KMC’s counsel told the court that more staff needed to be hired to run the new fire tenders, the court sought a reply from the local government secretary on the matter. It particularly asked for the details of measures taken for recruiting more employees.

Besides, the court enquired from the chief fire officer about a blaze that had erupted in a commercial entity in Karachi few days ago.

“Didn’t you have enough water and vehicles [to douse the blaze promptly]?” the court asked. The chief fire officer replied that the fire was contained within two hours and all workers present inside the building were safely moved out with the help of snorkels.

Justice Mazhar further enquired about the issuance of a no-objection certificate for commercial building by the SBCA.

“An NOC issued by the SBCA is essential for the construction of commercial buildings,” the court observed and summoned the SBCA DG at the next hearing on January 26.

Plea dismissed

Meanwhile, a two-member bench headed by SHC Chief Justice Ahmed Ali Shaikh dimissed former Malir SSP Rao Anwar’s plea seeking exemption from attending the hearings of the Naqeebullah case.

At the hearing, Justice Shaikh remarked, “Would it not be discrimination against others if Rao Anwar is excused from attending court hearings?”

Rao’s lawyer maintained that according to a report received from intelligence agencies, his client was facing serious security concerns.

On hearing the argument, Justice Shaikh stated that in that case “we will order the trial court to hold hearings on a daily basis. We reject your plea”.

However, the petitioner’s counsel pleaded to the court to not reject the plea, saying that he would withdraw it. Granting the request, the court dismissed the plea