Once filed never forgotten : Court seeks report on steps at flood control

Govt told to report implementation of flood commission proposals

ISLAMABAD:

The top court has sought reports from federal and all provincial governments regarding their steps to overcome damage from floods in the future.

The three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, on Thursday took up the hearing of contempt petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MNA Marvi Memon against irrigation secretaries of Punjab and Sindh for committing contempt of court by not implementing the flood commission’s recommendations and neglecting to guard against possible destruction.



The flood commission was constituted on December 15, 2010 by the apex court to investigate allegations of deliberate breaches in the Tori bund and other dykes which caused massive devastation during the 2010 floods on petitions filed by Marvi and others.

In 2011, the commission submitted its 200-page final report in the Supreme Court, revealing that the negligence of the Irrigation departments of Sindh and Balochistan had caused a colossal loss of Rs855 billion to the national economy during the floods of 2010.

Later on, in July 2011, the petitioner Marvi had moved a contempt petition against irrigation secretaries of Punjab and Sindh for not implementing the commission’s recommendations. She appealed to the apex court to direct the governments to implement the flood commission’s recommendations in letter and spirit. She has petitioned the apex court to prosecute negligent officials with a custodial sentence in her petition filed under Articles 187, 190 and 204 of the Constitution.

Marvi maintained in her petition that implementation of Article 190 is mandatory .She contended that non-implementation or delay in execution of SC’s orders constitutes contempt of court in terms of Article 204 of the Constitution.

The PML-N MNA stated that ‘the contemnors have acted in flagrant and contumacious contempt’ by failing to implement the commission’s report. “The contemnors have thereby abused and deliberately sought to defeat the process of the court and sully the stream of justice. The acts of commission and omission of the contemnors leave no doubt that they have deliberately and contumaciously chosen to disobey the order of the SC,” states the petition.

However, when the court on Thursday resumed the hearing of case, Marvi Memon requested the bench to allow withdrawal of her contempt petition because the commission’s recommendations have been implemented so far. The bench however rejected her plea.

Another member of the bench Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh questioned whether she wants to withdraw the petition because her own party is in power. The bench directed federal and all provincial governments to submit report regarding their measures to overcome possible damage of floods in future and adjourned the hearing till the month of June.

It is be noted that the Commission had recommended that it should be ensured that all the illegally-constructed structures on government lands destroyed by the recent floods, should not be allowed to be re-erected.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3^rd, 2015.