Explosive verdict: LHC resurrects Kalabagh Dam ghost
Orders govt to construct contentious project, act to remove fears of detractors.
LAHORE:
Given its politically explosive nature, the project is a subject that most broach with extreme caution, if at all.
However, the Lahore High Court (LHC) threw the cat among the pigeons on Thursday when it ordered the federal government to start construction of the contentious Kalabagh Dam.
In a decision set to create ripples across the country, particularly in Sindh, the LHC Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial observed that the Council of Common Interest (CCI) had approved the project twice, and maintained that it was the government’s duty under article 154 of the Constitution to implement the council’s decision.
Petitions for the construction of the dam, which is based in Punjab and is fiercely opposed by Sindh, had been filed by Judicial Activism Panel chairman Muhammad Azhar Siddique, among others. They maintained that, in 1991, the then chief ministers of all four provinces had signed an agreement on Kalabagh Dam at the CCI and this agreement had still not been implemented. He requested the court to invoke articles 9 and 38 of the Constitution and order the dam’s construction in ‘public interest’.
“Bona fide steps by the federal government are necessary so that the fate of the project is not sealed on the basis of presumptions and surmises when, in light of the material on record, the project is admittedly feasible, both technically and economically,” observed Chief Justice Bandial in his order.
He had earlier asked for the minutes of the CCI meeting over the construction of Kalabagh Dam. On Thursday, a senior joint secretary of the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination informed him that that CCI had decided the matter twice. The first decision was taken on September 16, 1991, when the council granted express approval to the dam’s construction. CCI revisited the project on May 9, 1998, when the Natural Water Resources Development Programme was directed to prepare a document for the project’s detractors to address their political and technical concerns.
The petitioners’ counsel also informed the court of a 2004 study by representatives from all four provinces which endorsed Kalabagh Dam’s feasibility as well.
The chief justice remarked that neither CCI’s decisions nor the project received much government attention thereafter.
“The Constitution of Pakistan confers a pre-eminent position to CCI for formulating and regulating policies for the federation in relation to a number of subjects, including water and power. Any decision by the council has obligatory effect unless it is modified by Parliament at the instance of the federal government under Article 154(7) of the Constitution,” he observed in his judgment.
“It is therefore directed that while implementing the afore-noted CCI decisions, the federal government shall faithfully strive to explore and devise an administrative framework that allays apprehensions, political or otherwise, nurtured by concerned quarters about the Kalabagh Dam project.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 30th, 2012.
Given its politically explosive nature, the project is a subject that most broach with extreme caution, if at all.
However, the Lahore High Court (LHC) threw the cat among the pigeons on Thursday when it ordered the federal government to start construction of the contentious Kalabagh Dam.
In a decision set to create ripples across the country, particularly in Sindh, the LHC Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial observed that the Council of Common Interest (CCI) had approved the project twice, and maintained that it was the government’s duty under article 154 of the Constitution to implement the council’s decision.
Petitions for the construction of the dam, which is based in Punjab and is fiercely opposed by Sindh, had been filed by Judicial Activism Panel chairman Muhammad Azhar Siddique, among others. They maintained that, in 1991, the then chief ministers of all four provinces had signed an agreement on Kalabagh Dam at the CCI and this agreement had still not been implemented. He requested the court to invoke articles 9 and 38 of the Constitution and order the dam’s construction in ‘public interest’.
“Bona fide steps by the federal government are necessary so that the fate of the project is not sealed on the basis of presumptions and surmises when, in light of the material on record, the project is admittedly feasible, both technically and economically,” observed Chief Justice Bandial in his order.
He had earlier asked for the minutes of the CCI meeting over the construction of Kalabagh Dam. On Thursday, a senior joint secretary of the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination informed him that that CCI had decided the matter twice. The first decision was taken on September 16, 1991, when the council granted express approval to the dam’s construction. CCI revisited the project on May 9, 1998, when the Natural Water Resources Development Programme was directed to prepare a document for the project’s detractors to address their political and technical concerns.
The petitioners’ counsel also informed the court of a 2004 study by representatives from all four provinces which endorsed Kalabagh Dam’s feasibility as well.
The chief justice remarked that neither CCI’s decisions nor the project received much government attention thereafter.
“The Constitution of Pakistan confers a pre-eminent position to CCI for formulating and regulating policies for the federation in relation to a number of subjects, including water and power. Any decision by the council has obligatory effect unless it is modified by Parliament at the instance of the federal government under Article 154(7) of the Constitution,” he observed in his judgment.
“It is therefore directed that while implementing the afore-noted CCI decisions, the federal government shall faithfully strive to explore and devise an administrative framework that allays apprehensions, political or otherwise, nurtured by concerned quarters about the Kalabagh Dam project.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 30th, 2012.