Sindh govt wants water commission to continue

The Sindh government on Saturday expressed its wish that the Supreme Court (SC)-designated judicial commission on water and sanitation continued working in the larger interest of public good.

The judicial commission headed by Justice (retd) Amir Hani Muslim, the tenure of which is expiring on Tuesday (tomorrow), has issued several directives to ensure supply of clean drinking water, sanitation and healthy environment to the people of the province.

At the outset of the commission’s proceedings on Saturday, Sindh Advocate General (AG) Salman Talibuddin submitted on behalf of the provincial government that the government appreciated the working of the commission, which needed to continue till its objectives were completely accomplished.

The AG submitted that many of the ongoing schemes related to water and sanitation would be better monitored by the commission if it continued. He added that there were many other schemes in the formative stage that had been initiated in accordance with the directives of the commission that needed to be monitored.

Talibuddin identified several areas in which the commission was at final stage of evaluating the need assessment. In all likelihood a stream of interventions was to follow after assessment which needed to be monitored by the commission, he said.

The AG also tendered an apology for comments made by an additional advocate general before the SC when the judicial commission had submitted the final report. Such statement was made without instructions, he said and withdrew the same.

The AG submitted that the Sindh government had no intentions to record before the SC any objections to the final report of the judicial commission, which the apex court may make rule of the court. As the AG expressed the government’s wish regarding the continuation of the judicial commission, Justice (retd) Muslim observed that the commission’s continuation was the prerogative of the apex court.

The commission observed that the issue of solarisation of water supply schemes and street lights needed to be examined through legal point of view. It also directed the AG to implement the orders of the commission with regard to the shifting of a cattle colony in Shikarpur which had not been complied with on account of unjustifiable reasons.