Seems there is no govt in Sindh: SC

KARACHI: Irked at the Sindh government for failing to attend to the civic issues of Karachi, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Gulzar Ahmed Monday said there was no government in Sindh and the system was being run by influential persons from Canada, London or Dubai.

He passed these remarks while chairing the hearing of a case relating to the construction of a tower on Shahrah-e-Faisal, reports Geo News. The chief justice remarked that if the Sindh government could not clean a nullah, then how it could run the entire province.

Speaking about Shahrah-e-Faisal — the city's main artery — the chief justice said service roads on both sides of the artery had been encroached. “Everyone is corrupt; even the commissioner is admitting that it has been encroached,” observed the CJP. He said all the plots mentioned in the case were amenity plots.

“There is a building control authority, [but you can] give [them] money and do whatever you like. There is no government in Sindh,” observed the judge. The court also asked the advocate general Sindh what the provincial government will do to check such practices. “Advocate general Sindh you tell us, you know everything. How can anyone else run your government? Someone will have to stand up and stop this,” remarked the court.

The top judge said parliamentary form of government was a strong one but when a provincial government could not even clean a nullah, then how could it run an entire province. “We gave the orders to clean the nullah over a year ago but there seems to be a new excuse every day,” said the chief justice.

He said Rs2.6 trillion was allocated for an education project that started in 2014 and finished in 2017. "This money could have been used to establish a world-class university," he said.

The chief justice observed that Rs1.5 billion had been set aside for reverse osmosis plants yet people in Tharparkar were dying of thirst. “The Sindh government only has one plan: turn [the province] from bad to worse," the chief justice lashed out.

He said authorities should decide what to do about the city’s civic issues. "This is not how you run a government," he said. "In fact, there seems to be no government [in Sindh]," he added. The court said when authorities passed budgets, they allocated funds for themselves, not for the welfare of the people. The court then adjourned the hearing till June 16 due to the absence of Munir A Malik.