Sindh AG’s comments sought on commission’s jurisdiction

The judicial commission on water and sanitation asked the provincial advocate general to present his case over the commission’s jurisdiction to initiate contempt proceedings against the provincial chief secretary for not complying with the court’s directives.

The directive was given by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro who is heading the commission that was formed by and continuing its proceedings in light of the Supreme Court’s directives.  Advocate General Sindh Zamir Ghumro submitted the chief secretary’s reply on a show-cause notice issued by the judicial commission for not complying with the directives of the court regarding improving the province’s water supply and sanitation issues.

The AG had on the previous hearing contested the commission’s mandate over initiating contempt proceedings against anyone. The commission directed the AG to present his points over the commission’s jurisdiction to initiate contempt proceedings against the chief secretary.

The CS’s reply maintained that most of the court and commission’s directives have been complied with, whereas necessary notifications have also been issued in this regard. However, he submitted that implementation of all the directives would require some time.

The claim was, however, contested by the petitioner who said that although some work was going on and that funds had been allocated for water supply and sanitation projects, but no results had so far have been achieved.

The petitioner added that the quality of water being supplied to the citizens including from filter plants was yet to be improved. The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board Managing Director submitted in his report that a transformer has been installed at the Chilya filtration plant. Submitting another report regarding the progress over enactment of laws, rules and regulations with respect to KWSB running water hydrants, he submitted that the devised rules and regulations had been sent to the provincial government for approval.

Left Bank Canal Area Water Board Badin chairman, Major (retd) Umer Farooq, also submitted his report regarding the anti-encroachment operation being carried out on the banks of Akram Wah and problems being faced by the irrigation department while executing the operation.

He maintained that influential individuals created a law and order situation when the irrigation department showed up to remove the illegal three-feet diameter pipline from Akram Wah but no help and assistance was provided by the local administration in this regard.

The AG Sindh and the task force’s chairman assured that proper assistance and security will be provided to the left bank canal team for removing the encroachment and illegal water outlets from the banks of Hyderabad’s irrigation channels.

Addressing the commission on the issue of treatment plants in Karachi, the provincial chief secretary informed the court of the problems being faced by the local administration in rehabilitating treatment plant-II, the main portion of which has either been encroached upon or leased by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) where thousands of houses have been built.

He submitted that the Sindh government was looking for an alternate land for the inhabitants residing within the premises of TP-II, likely to be displaced during the rehabilitation process. He also informed that in order to finalize TP-I and TP-III all required funds have been released by the Sindh government and that both the treatment plants will be functional shortly.

He sought one week’s time to submit a definite reply over the time period the plants would be made functional in. Rejecting deputy chairman Karachi Port Trust’s reply filed on behalf of KPT’s chairman, the commission also issued a notice to the chairman asking him to appear in person and submit his reply on the show cause notice.