Judicial body wants restoration of water meters in two days

The Supreme Court-mandated judicial commission on water and sanitation directed the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) on Friday to restore all the meters that had previously been installed on water pipelines within two days.

The judicial commission, which is headed by Justice (retd) Amir Hani Muslim, observed that despite repeated directives, the KWSB was reluctant to install meters on the pipelines and had been giving one or the other excuse, which was unfortunate.

Justice (retd) Muslim directed the KWSB managing director to take departmental action against officials who were responsible for non-compliance of the commission’s order. He further directed that contract for installation of new meters shall be awarded within 15 days and warned that in case of delay, proceedings shall be initiated against the officers responsible for the awarding of contract.

The commission also directed that after the award of contract, flow meters shall be installed without further delay and the exercise of installation shall be completed by February 2019. Regarding water supply issues in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and Clifton areas, the commission was informed that the focal person for water issues in Karachi had conducted meetings with officers of the DHA and cantonment boards and a committee had been constituted with the consent of all the stakeholders to resolve water supply issues.

The judicial commission was informed that the committee was headed by the Korangi deputy commissioner and comprised representatives of the DHA, cantonment boards, KWSB and complainants. The committee would regulate illegal connections installed by the public and would also manage the pipeline supplying water to the DHA, the commission was told.

The commission also took notice of frequent transfers of officers in the district municipal committee of Shikarpur and directed the local government to seek approval of the commission before transferring any officer till further orders.

The Shikarpur deputy commissioner, who had been entrusted with financial powers, submitted to the commission that the Shikarpur chief municipal officer and three other officers had been transferred during pendency of an inquiry.

The commission observed that an office superintendent and assistant of the deputy commissioner had been transferred by the Board of Revenue secretary with the objective to affect the working of the deputy commissioner. The commission head directed the relevant authorities to immediately reinstate them. The judicial commission remarked that performance of the incumbent CMO was not up to the mark, and directed the relevant authorities to transfer him back as per the rules.