Katas Raj case: Being part of state, judiciary to plug gap, says CJ

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Wednesday observed that the judiciary was also part of the state and it will not step out of its constitutional jurisdiction but will intervene to plug the gap wherever it may be.

He gave these remarks heading a three-member bench of the apex court that resumed hearing into the suo moto caseregarding Katas Raj temple. The notice was taken on media reports that the sacred pond of the temple was drying up as nearby cement factories were drawing large amount of groundwater through a number of wells in the area.

The court issued directives to the management of Bestway Cement to fill up within a week the pond of Katas Raj, the worship place of Hindu community in Chakwal, besides directing the concerned authorities to take effective precautionary measures for controlling environmental pollution in the area and submit a report.

The court also directed the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) chairman to submit a detailed report before it regarding the measures taken for the repair of the Katas Raj temple. It also directed the authorities concerned to provide details of how much land was allotted to the factories in the area.

The CJ said that verdicts are on the record mentioning that the state will be run collectively by the judiciary, the legislature and the executive.

In pursuance of an earlier order, seeking an explanation on the decaying state of Sri Ram and Hanuman temples, ETPB’s Siddiqul Farooq in his reply informed the court that the statues were removed from the temples for fear of reprisal attacks following the demolition of Babri Mosque in India in 1992. The court was informed that the said temples were under the control of Archeology Department and no worship is being done there. The court was further informed that the Archeology Department has been controlling the Katas Raj Complex since 2006, and guidelines have been inscribed in the temples about where worship is done.

During the course of hearing, a representative of Bestway Cement told the court that they have hired Babar Sattar as counsel for pleading the case but he could not reach here, seeking some time. The CJ observed that as for as he knows, the SC has not yet granted licence to Babar Sattar. On the court query, the representative also told the court that the factory’s head was in London, thus he also could not appear. To another court query, she stated that the factory was using approximately 80, 000 gallons of water per day. The CJ questioned who has given the right to the factory to use such a high quantity of underground water, adding that the factory had caused high damages to the environment of Chakwal district.

“Don’t make the lives of people more miserable on the excuses of exporting cement and contributing to the foreign reserves,” he remarked while addressing the representative. The court directed the company to fill the pond of Katas Raj within a week at any cost and submit a compliance report. It directed the Punjab government to submit a detailed report containing the conditions under which establishment of the cement factories was allowed in the area. The court also sought reports on the environmental pollution being caused by the factories in the area.

During the hearing, Assistant Advocate General of Punjab informed the court that the Bestway Cement factory had illegally installed a turbine, which was sucking huge quantity of underground water. The court then directed that the illegal turbine be closed down immediately and compliance report be submitted. The court also directed that a comprehensive report on the factories’ impact on the environment in Zone ‘B’ be submitted till next hearing. The chief justice said that the cement factories will not be allowed to operate at the cost of people’s health and observed that the court could order to close down all such factories for survival of environment and the human life. “There will be no compromise on the environment as well as the condition of Katas Raj temple,” the CJ said. Salman Akram Raja, counsel for DG Khan Cement plant, stated that his client was producing the permitted quantity of the product, thus was not part of the problem.

The chief justice said that whenever he uses the the Islamabad-Lahore Motorway, he turns sad after looking at the destroyed natural beauty, which was still being destroyed mercilessly, adding that the mountains were still being destroyed by digging up on various pretexts.

The representative of Bestway Cement, however, said that the mountains alongside the Islamabad-Lahore Motorway were not dug up or destroyed by the factory. The CJ observed that Potohar plateau was already facing water scarcity, as the underground water level was very deep.

Raja Waseem, an applicant in the instant case, submitted before the court that the Punjab government had allotted mountains and ancestral graveyards to the owners of cement factories. He said that no government functionary took measure to address his complaint in the matter. The bench asked him to file details of his concerns during the next date of hearing, before it adjourned the case till the second week of January.