Chief Justice Peshawar High Court (PHC) Justice Qaisar Rasheed on Tuesday ordered brick kilns to convert to zig-zag technology and said that the kiln owners could not be allowed to use outdated technology and create pollution because they don’t have money for it.
He said that pollution was a major problem which can’t be ignored.
He gave these remarks during the hearing of a writ petition filed by the brick kiln owners. The case was heard by a bench comprising chief justice and Justice Shahkeel Ahmad.
The lawyer of the petitioners, Deputy Director Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Mumtaz Ali and additional advocate general appeared before the court.
The lawyer of the petitioners told the court that government passed a law in 2014 under which brick kilns were to be converted to zig-zag technology because government wanted to control the pollution levels and improve the quality of bricks too.
He said that the conversion would cost Rs6 to Rs7 million per kiln and it was completely unaffordable for the owners who had limited financial resources.
The Deputy Director EPA Mumtaz Ali informed the court that the conversion would not only solve the pollution issues but would enhance the quality of the product and the technology has already been used and tested in Nepal successfully.
The technical expert of EPA said that the technology has been tried and adopted in many places in Pakistan and it is not so expensive as claimed by kiln owners, adding that these kilns are causing air pollution due to outdated production methods.
Mumtaz said that the entire process was started after the Supreme Court of Pakistan took suo moto notice in 2003. Following the court order, a high commissioner was appointed to control environmental pollution which recommended the use of zig-zag technology after many studies.
The additional advocate general informed the court that the cost of the conversion to this new method was just Rs1.5 to Rs2 million at the most.
He refuted the claims that the total cost was Rs7 million.
The chief justice ordered them to sit with petitioners and solve the problem.
After the hearing was restored, the court was informed that EPA has been barred from taking action against kilns by the court and the court had issued a stay order in this regard.
It was informed that the stay order had been issued on the basis that the kiln owners have no financial resources to introduce the new technology.
Chief justice on this occasion remarked that no one could be allowed to cause pollution on the basis of lack of financial resources.
He said that if the cost is Rs1.5 million then necessary steps should be taken to introduce the technology in the province.
The lawyer of the petitioners was directed to settle the issue with the government officials through mutual understanding.
The chief justice said that the court didn’t want to disturb any business but wanted to solve the environmental issues too.
The court withdrew the stay order and directed the kiln owners to adopt the new production technique.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2022.
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