Judicial commission seeks details of DMC employees, budget utilisation

The judicial commission probing water and sanitation issues of the city on Monday directed secretary local government to file a detailed statement of the total strength of employees in all district municipal corporations and their annual expenses.

The expenditures included salaries of the employees as well as the amount spent on managing solid waste in the city and other parts of Sindh.

The commission headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro is investigating non-provision of clean drinking water, sanitation and healthy environment to the people of the province.

Representatives of Karachi, Korangi, Clifton, Faisal cantonment boards and Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) have agreed to meet to devise a strategy or work out a plan to ensure that no high-rises or multi-storey buildings were constructed, in any cantonment area of Karachi, without provision of an adequate framework to address the issue of potable water and sanitation.

The Sindh Building Control Authority’s (SBCA) director general Noor Mohammad Leghari filed a statement on the issue of NOCs regarding water and santiation not being acquired from the KWSB prior to approval of a building plan.

He submitted that under the Sindh Building Control Ordinance and Karachi Building and Town planning regulations, 2002, SBCA was not required to obtain any such approval from the water utility.

He further maitnained that the SBCA was approving a building plan in accordance with law. The Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan’s representative appeared and submitted that they have been taking NOCs from the KWSB and other related authorities before granting approval for high-rise or multi-storey building’s plans.

They also sought time to file a detailed statement in this regard. KWSB’s managing director Misbahuddin Farid also filed a statement before the commission. The commission had in a previous hearing heard differing views on the matter of high-rises being erected without acquiring the water utility’s no-objection certificate (NOC).

The Karachi Cantonment Board (KCB) had said that no plan for a multi-storeyed building was approved unless the developer submitted an NOC issued by the KWSB. The water utility, however, contested the claim.