Govt officers should be prosecuted for supplying tainted water: SC

The Supreme Court said on Wednesday that government officers should be prosecuted for supplying contaminated water to citizens.

Hearing a petition seeking the provision of clean drinking water and a safe environment to the citizens of Sindh, a three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim observed that the court wanted to ensure that not a single citizen suffered an ailment or died because of consuming contaminated water and officers who had failed to discharge their duties were sacked.

The court asked the SITE managing director as why action was not being taken against the engineers who had failed to make the treatment plant in Kotri functional.

The SITE MD submitted that a private company, ARA, owned by Karachi deputy mayor Arshad Vohra, was executing the treatment plant project but the company had left it over a dispute over outstanding dues and an inquiry had been initiated against it.

He submitted that SITE’s treatment plant was not functioning because it lacked a laboratory and chemicals.

The court expressed serious concern over the discharge of industrial waste of SITE at a filter plant near Kotri and directed the SITE MD to ensure that filter and treatment plants were made operational so that no waste to be discharged in the KB feeder.

Hyderabad’s Water and Sewerage Authority engineer Masood Ahmed informed the court that four of five filter plants were functional. Encroachments were built on a portion of the fifth filter plant.

The court observed that because of WASA’s negligence, industrial effluent sewer waste was being discharged into the Phulleli channel, forcing the residents of the district to use contaminated water.

The court directed the irrigation department to ensure that no district administration was not allowed to discharge waste in the river or its channel throughout the province. The court observed that because of the discharge of waste in irrigation channels, people were suffering from different skin and stomach diseases.

The court also took exception to the non-functioning of the water filter plant in Jacobabad and directed the deputy commissioner there to explain as what steps were being taken to make it functional.

The court observed that effluent was being discharged from 28 places in the Rice Canal in Larkana but the local administration had not taken steps to stop it.

The court noted that the irrigation department and local administration of districts had failed to discharge their duties and had not taken measures to stop the contamination of water in the river, canals and channels.

 Chief secretary Rizwan Memon told the court that Jamal Mustafa had been appointed the permanent irrigation secretary abd Hashim Raza Zaidi was now serving as the managing director of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board. The court directed the chief secretary to ensure that such officers, who were supposed to undertake supply of water and maintaining sewerage system of Karachi and other districts, were not transferred without the permission of the court.

 

Land records

The chief secretary informed the Supreme Court that of 870 dehs, the records of 867 of them had been computerised.

The court observed that court was receiving complaints against the duplication of revenue records in Jamshoro, Malir and Thatta. The court directed the chief secretary to complete the entire exercise within three months and submit a compliance report.

 

Doctors’ promotion

The apex court directed the health secretary to decide the senior doctors’ promotion case under the four-tier formula and fulfill the vacant posts after formation of public service commission.

Hearing an application filed by Dr Usman Mako against the non-promotion of doctors in the health department, a three-member bench asked the health secretary as to why doctors had not been promoted despite orders.

The health secretary submitted that a departmental promotion committee has finalised some promotion cases and sought a month’s time to finalise the matter. He submitted that frequent transfer of the secretaries in health department had caused a delay in doctors’ promotion.

He also submitted report regarding promotion of doctors in health department mentioning that 3,693 posts of doctors were vacant. According to the report, the promotion of doctors would take place under the four-tier formula under which 34 5 percent doctors would be promoted to grade 18, 15 percent in grade 19 and one percent to grade 20.  The court directed secretary health to submit a compliance report within two months.