The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued on Monday 'bailable' warrants for the arrest of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) managing director Quttubuddin Sheikh, its chief engineer and the Mithadar police SHO for demolishing a water hydrant in defiance of the court's stay order.
A division bench, headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, also ordered the Sharae Faisal police's senior superintendent to execute the warrants and produce these officials in court on August 22.
Muhammad Rafique, a hydrant operator, had taken the local bodies secretary, KWSB MD, deputy MD, the DIG South, the Mithadar SHO and others to the court for allegedly taking action against his water hydrant located on Moulvi Tameezuddin Road.
On Monday, the petitioner came up with a contempt application. His lawyer, Mehmood Ahmed Khan, told the two judges that the court had, on the last date of hearing, granted an interim injunction, restraining the water board authorities from demolishing the water hydrant in question. But, the authorities have razed the hydrant in violation of the stay order, he added.
The bench had also issued notices to the KWSB managing director and the relevant chief engineer to file their comments, explaining why the action being initiated against the subject hydrant. However, none of them appeared on Monday.
"The record reflects that the notice on Respondents 2 to 4 was issued, despite that, they are not present nor they are represented by anyone in the court," the judges noted. Taking serious notice of their absence, the bench issued bailable warrants against the KWSB managing director, the chief engineer and the Mithadar SHO for a sum of Rs100,000 each.
The bench ordered the Sharae Faisal SSP to execute the arrest warrants and submit the compliance report by August 20.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 5th, 2014.
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