KARACHI: The Supreme Court has directed the Sindh chief secretary to immediately remove the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board’s (KWSB) managing director. A three-judge bench – headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim and with Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Faisal Arab as its members – issued the directives while hearing a petition against the provincial government for failing to deliver potable water, sewerage and solid waste services across the province. It directed the chief secretary to immediately remove the present managing director of the KWSB, Misbahuddin Fareed, and appoint any qualified and eligible officer. The judges were informed that the post of the KWSB MD was a cadre post and Misbahuddin Fareed was not a cadre officer but he was appointed following the orders of the court. When asked, the Sindh AG told the judges that the office of the law secretary was lying vacant for over a year and the solicitor was given acting charge of the office. The court observed that a non-cadre officer, as notified by the provincial government, could not be appointed to the cadre post, and directed the chief secretary to appoint any cadre officer by today (Tuesday). It also directed the chief secretary to appoint a cadre officer to the post of the irrigation secretary, which was also lying vacant. The court directed Advocate General Barrister Zamir Ghumro, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board’s engineer and the petitioner to visit the treatment and filter plants across the metropolitan and take their photographs. It instructed them to appraise it of their present condition and whether they were operational. When asked, the KWSB MD informed the judges that five filter plants were installed in Karachi; however, they were not fully operational. He said there were three treatment plants in the city, but they were not working at present. To a query, Misbahuddin Fareed said that repair work on two of the three plants was underway and within a year they would be made functional. He said that the 120-acre land reserved for the installation of treatment plant at Mahmoodabad had been encroached upon. Petitioner Shahab Usto informed the judges that the land had been leased out by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC). How a piece of land belonging to the water utility could be leased out, asked Justice Hani, observing that it had been allotted illegally. Usto said that 450 million gallon untreated toxic water was being drained out into sea as no treatment plant was functional, destroying the ecology and depleting fish reserves. The bench directed the Sindh government to place on record the details of the agreement under which North Sindh Urban Services Corporation (NSUSC) was created, it functioning and funds released to it so far. Justice Hani remarked that the Sindh government had spent billions of rupees for delivery of potable water supply, sewerage and solid waste services, yet the people were devoid of drinkable water and other facilities. “A huge amount was released to organisations like NSUSC, yet people were drinking water unfit for their health.” He asked the chief secretary to point out the persons responsible for this sorry state of affairs. “If we had to prosecute a hundred people to save one, we will do it,” Justice Hani observed, adding that the government instead of strengthening its departments had engaged a private company to do its work, eroding the entire system. “In the presence of department like public health engineering and local government department, NSUSC was provided funds. One department was doing other’s job. The coal authority was made to construct roads, while the special institute and energy departments were installing RO plants,” observed the judges. The judges came down hard on the Sindh AG and the relevant authorities for failing to produce the copy of the law under which the NSUSC was formed, questioning how it was function parallel to the local government department and municipal authorities. The court was told the NSUSC was formed with the financial support of the Asian Development Bank for provision of potable water and sanitation facilities in the province. The judges were visibly irked when they were informed that the managing director of NSUSC was absent. They directed the counsel representing the MD to ensure his appearance at the next hearing. The commission probing the government’s failure to provide safe drinking water and sanitation facilities across the province had completed its proceedings within six weeks and submitted its report to the bench. The court made the report public and gave the chief secretary time to submit his response at the next hearing. The commission was set up by the apex court to inquire into the allegations levelled by the petitioner. A television documentary about the state of potable, sanitation and sewerage service throughout the province was also played in the courtroom. According to the commission’s report, the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) had taken 300 water samples from the different districts of the province for testing and found that most of the water was unsafe for human consumption.