Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar on Friday took suo motu notice of bottled water companies pumping underground water and selling it as mineral water during the hearing of the Katas Raj case.
He directed the authorities concerned to produce before the court data regarding water usage by these companies at the next hearing. He said he would hear the case on Saturday (today) at the SC’s Lahore registry.
The top court asked the Attorney General and provincial Advocate General to inquire how much water was being used by these companies and whether they were paying for it.
“They are extracting water and selling it. Do we know if they are even paying for it or not?” he asked. “Water is very precious for us. Mineral water companies are acquiring water free of cost after installing turbines and then selling it at exorbitant prices,” he remarked.
“We will take all possible measures to preserve water,” he added. CJP Nisar also directed owners of bottled water companies in Karachi to come to Lahore for the hearing.
In a separate case on the water shortage in the country, the Supreme Court invited the recommendations of experts regarding water conservation, and said that a special committee would be formed on the issue. CJP Nisar warned that if water was not conserved, it could one day ‘become more expensive than oil, gas and gold’.
“Nations conserve their water [resources], and we will also have to take measures to do that.” The chief justice came down hard on the authorities in the Punjab, holding them responsible for wasting valuable water. He said, “Their total water cess is two billion but they manage to recover even less than a billion.”
Justice Umar Atta Bandial pointed out that the irrigation system in Pakistan was obsolete now. “A lot of water gets wasted due to sewerage and leakage, and this needs to be reviewed from the scratch,” he said. “We will have to hear from those experts who have conducted a lot of research on underground water.” Justice Ijazul Ahsan also stressed the need to make the irrigation system more effective.
Published in Daily Times, September 15th 2018.
