SHC seeks provincial, federal governments’ comments

Karachi
The Sindh High Court issued notices on Monday to the federal and provincial law officers, the water and power minister, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, the K-Electric and others on a petition requesting judicial notice against the death of over 1,100 citizens in the city during the recent heatwave because of the unavailability of electricity and water.
The petitioner, Moulvi Iqbal Haider, submitted that extremely hot temperatures were witnessed in the entire country, but so many deaths occurred only in Karachi, particularly in poor localities.
He added that the federal and provincial governments were bound under Article 37 and 38 of the Constitution to provide basic facilities to the citizens.
He submitted that the power supply was a major issue in the entire country. He alleged that the previous government had privatised the former Karachi Electric Supply Corporation and the leaders of the ruling party back then had share of over 40 percent in the process.
He submitted that the KE, from the beginning of May 2015, had started suspending power for three to six hours a day and increased this duration in June from six to 12 hours.
After mid-June, he added, the power utility started cutting electricity supply for 12 to 20 hours.
He said the citizens were subjected to power cuts without any prior announcement.
The petitioner also submitted that the provincial government had failed to provide proper health facilities to the citizens.
The petitioner alleged that the provincial government, the water and power ministry and the KE were responsible of the heatwave deaths in the city but none of them was taking responsibility for it pinning the blame on each other.
He submitted that power was being supplied to posh and industrial areas where residents could afford generators, but the poor were made to suffer in the scorching heat.
Citing the ministries of law and justice, water and power, privatisation commission, the Sindh chief secretary, the KWSB, the KE and others as respondents, the petitioner requested the court to take judicial notice and pass appropriate orders against them for their gross negligence and irresponsibility that caused the deaths.
He also requested the court to direct the privatisation commission chairman to produce the agreement pertaining to the privatisation of the city’s power utility along with the details of shareholders of the K-Electric so that if any illegality and irregularity was found the pact could be cancelled.
An SHC division bench headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi after the preliminary hearing of the petition issued notices to federal and provincial law officers, the KWSB, KE and others, seeking their comments.
The court also directed the petitioner to submit documents that proved that the federal and provincial governments had displayed negligence in addressing the problem.

NAB told to file comments
The high court told the National Accountability Bureau to file comments on a petition filed by the minority affairs secretary in an illegal appointment case.
Badar Jamil Mandhro, the minority affairs secretary, filed a petition against a NAB inquiry into the illegal appointment of 26 officers in his department.
The NAB counsel sought time to file comments as the investigation was still pending and he wanted to produce the material collected by investigation officer. An SHC division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar granted time and adjourned the matter till July 7.
The same bench also directed NAB to file comments on petitions filed by the chairman of the chief minister’s inquiry and inspection team and a former chief secretary in an illegal land allotment case.
The petitioner, Abdus Subhan, submitted that he was a grade 21 officer and presently working as the chairman of the chief minister’s inquiry and inspection team.
He added that NAB officials were harassing him in a case of a land in Jamshoro allotted when he was a member of the land utilisation department.
Former chief secretary Ghulam Ali Shah Pasha also sought injunction in the same reference. Subhan’s counsel submitted that the petition should be converted into a pre-arrest bail application. The investigation officer of the case submitted that the petitioner would not be arrested till the next date of hearing but he should be directed to cooperate in the investigation.