SC warns of summoning premier and chief minister if issue not resolved

The Supreme Court has directed the federal and provincial governments to interact on the issue of completing the Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) project to protect Manchar Lake from contamination, warning that the court could summon the prime minister and the chief minister if the issue was not resolved.

Hearing the suo motu case of the lake’s contamination due to effluents from the RBOD, the SC’s three-member bench headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim took exception to the federal government’s report that requested the court to direct the Sindh government to pay its share for completing the drain project.

Finance Secretary Tariq Bajwa said the matter of completing the RBOD project was deferred in the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC), as the provincial government withdrew its stand for paying its share to complete the project.

Advocate General Zamir Ghumro said that since the project was initiated by the federal government, the Sindh government was not required to pay the outstanding amount.

Taking exception to the Centre’s report, the court asked how it could direct the provincial government to pay the outstanding dues of Rs28 billion when the federal and provincial governments had the appropriate forums to resolve their disputes.

The bench asked what the role of the federal and provincial assemblies was in settling these issues and why they ran their respective governments when they could not even govern or outsource the functions of the government.

The SC directed the federal and provincial governments to interact with each other and decide the issue within a month, saying that the court did not want Manchar Lake to be polluted through contamination, adding that it would go to any lengths to protect the lives of the citizens and even summon the PM and the CM if the issue was not resolved.

The court took notice over the appointment of the director general of the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) as member of the task force constituted to make suggestions for minimising the pollution in Manchar Lake, despite the observation of the judicial commission on the working and mandate of the watchdog.

The bench said the Sepa chief was incompetent, who did nothing for activating the watchdog’s laboratory in the past several years or demonstrate his commitment to enforcing environmental laws.

Sepa DG Naeem Mughal said the laboratory was non-functional due to lack of funds on the part of the provincial government, adding that the watchdog had a staff of 205 employees and an annual budget of Rs168 million.

The court asked him why the taxpayers’ money was being misused when the watchdog did nothing to carry out its responsibilities, saying the lives of millions of people were at stake due to the incompetence and underperformance of Sepa and its chief.

The bench asked the advocate general why the irrigation secretary was not nominated in the task force and directed him to reorganise the team as well as submit a relevant notification on Thursday.

In the previous hearing, the SC had directed the chief secretary to form a task force by consulting not only experts within the government but from the private sector as well and submit a report on the means by which Manchar Lake’s pollution would be minimised.