Rain rehabilitation: Petition on draining stagnant water to be heard on Oct 24

Resolution says three to eight feet of water have been recorded collected at different areas of Sanghar City.

KARACHI:

The District Bar Association of Sanghar asked the Sindh High Court (SHC) chief justice to take suo motu notice of the failure of the local administration and provincial authorities to deal with heavy rains despite the meteorological department’s prediction.

The resolution said that three to eight feet of water have been recorded collected at different areas of Sanghar City. In the 29 days that have passed since the resolution was passed on September 20, no efforts have been made to drain the water from the commercial area, public offices and buildings.

The chief justice allowed the request and ordered that the resolution be converted into a constitutional petition. He put the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, Sindh chief secretary, district corporation administrator, Sindh deputy attorney general and advocate general on notice for October 24.

However, when the petition came up for hearing before an SHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Ahmed Ali M Shaikh no one showed up, with the exception of an additional advocate general. The bench took notice of this and put the proceedings of till 10 am on October 24.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2011.