Bottled water company case: SC seeks five-year record for forensic audit

LAHORE: A two-judge bench at the Supreme Court Lahore Registry resumed hearing of a suo motu case against extraction of groundwater by bottled water companies.

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar directed a multinational mineral water company to present its five-year record for forensic audit; otherwise, the sale of bottled water would be banned and the factory sealed.

Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan appeared on behalf of the company and stated that his client was being subjected to discrimination. Dismissing his notion, the CJ said the counsel for a large company did not mean that court’s order should not be followed. The company’s bottled water had proved substandard in all previous laboratory tests, remarked the judge.

“Why should the factory not be sealed till provision of the record to auditors,” asked the CJ, directing the testing laboratory to furnish the report about samples of the company’s bottled water at the earliest.

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar Sunday ordered a probe into the Gujjar Khan incident, in which the members of land mafia attacked a Christian family and torched their house and a car. On Sept 21, at least 12 suspects tortured the family of Bashir Masih, a retired sanitary worker of the Punjab Health Department, and set fire to their possessions in a bid to grab the property.

The apex court took notice after the Implementation Minority Rights Forum (IMRF) Chairman Samuel Pyara appeared before the Supreme Court Lahore Registry and filed an application regarding the incident. The chief justice sought a detailed report from the Punjab government and Inspector General Punjab Police Arif Nawaz Khan.