Environment issues: Judge finally appointed to tribunal

Pending cases against polluting industries have piled up since 2011.

LAHORE:

Abdul Rasheed has been appointed chairman of the Punjab Environment Tribunal, which had been without a head since June 2011, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials said that Rasheed had served as a district and sessions judge and at the special court for banking offences.

Ubaid Rabbani Qureshi, a retired District Management Group officer, and Dr Anwar Rasheed Saleemi, who retired as dean of the chemical engineering department at the University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, have been appointed the legal member and technical member for the tribunal.

As of this month, there were some 1,736 cases against polluters pending at the environmental tribunal, which deals with offences identified by the EPA. The pending cases include pollution offences by tanneries, poultry farms, rice mills, textile dyeing units, steel re-rolling units, lubricant manufacturers, marble factories, paper manufacturers and housing schemes across the province. EPA Secretary Saeed Iqbal Walah said an informal request to expedite the hearing of the cases may be sent to the tribunal. He said the tribunal was independent of the EPA.

AR Saleemi said that he had been informed verbally of his appointment, but not in writing. He said he was aware that a large number of cases were pending at the tribunal and he would try to tackle the backlog as soon as possible. Abdul Rasheed was unavailable for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2012.