Daily Times

KARACHI: While expressing concern over the poor sanitary conditions and shortage of potable water throughout the province, the Supreme Court has set up one-man judicial commission on Tuesday to delve into their causes.

The commission has been mandated to find the faults within the system leading to the failure of safe drinking water supply, sewerage and solid waste services and suggest the remedies to the problems, ruled a two-judge bench of the apex court while hearing a petition at the Karachi registry.

The bench comprising of Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Mushir Alam had taken up a constitutional petition against the provincial government and civic authorities for failing to provide potable water and clean environment to the people in Sindh province.

The court asked the Sindh High Court chief justice to nominate a sitting judge to head the commission within a week’s time. The commission would complete its proceedings and submit its findings within six weeks, the order said.

Worrying about the commission’s findings likely to point out the government’s failure, Advocate General Sindh Zameer Hussain Ghumro initially opposed the setting up of the commission.

When the judges spelled out that the commission would pointing out the causes and suggesting remedies, he gave consent on behalf of the government.

In response to the court’s notice, Sindh chief secretary Rizwan Memon and other provincial and municipal authorities turned up in the court and submitted their reports.

They informed the judges that they were making serious efforts to ensure potable water supply and clean environment in the province.

Advocate Shahab Usto had petitioned the apex court, naming the provincial chief secretary, the secretaries of the local government, health and development departments, managing-director of the NSUSC and others as the respondents.

The petitioner, who has hailed from district Shikarpur, submitted that the Sindh government had created the NSUSC in 2009-10 for delivering clean water supply, sewerage and solid waste services in a safe, efficient and effective manner in eight districts of the upper Sindh including Sukkur, New Sukkur, Rohri, Khairpur, Larkana, Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Ghorki.

He said that the organization was created by obtaining loan of Rs500 million dollars from the Asia Development Bank, but the same has not benefited the public at large in these districts. Instead the subsoil water has further been contaminated.

Usto told the judges that the provincial government has failed to provide drinking water to the public in the upper and lower parts of the province. “Instead the subsoil water, which the locals of these districts had to consume, is contaminated and not fit for the human consumption.”

The court had earlier observed that the issue raised is question of public importance, which has direct nexus with the fundamental rights of the residents of Sindh living not only in eight districts, but also in the lower Sindh.

The order said, “According to the petitioner the issues involved, inter alia, relate to the violation of the fundamental rights of the people of Shikarpur and Sindh, violation of the doctrine of public trust, degradation of environment, conserving the underground water/aquifer, supplying clean water to the citizens, providing an efficient sanitation and solid waste material disposal management to the people of Shikarpur and other parts of Sindh, protection of public life and atmosphere from the irreversible effects of contamination of underground water and fixing responsibility on the lapse or failure of discharging statutory and constitutional duties and functions to provide citizens of their fundamental rights to receive water and to live in a healthy environment.”