The Supreme Court on Monday sought details of mechanism devised by the federal and provincial governments for preservation of groundwater and measures to prevent its exploitation.
Hearing a suo motu case regarding groundwater exploitation, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar said mineral water companies were using groundwater but the government didn’t move to fix them. “Water will be as scarce in near future as it won’t be available on even gold rates,” he remarked, and called upon industrialists to adopt mechanism for recycling of the used water.
Dr Abdul Rahim, the secretary of the Law and Justice Commission, informed the top judge that neither its recommendations on the issue were heeded upon nor an awareness campaign was launched.
The representative of the Punjab government, Owais Ahmed, informed the bench that the provincial government had approved 31 recommendations out of 38. He said the government has formed a taskforce on water reservoirs, purification and taxation to deal with the issue.
The chief justice reprimanded the representative, saying that the Supreme Court-mandated water commission did a lot of work. “The governments are provided with everything but they don’t want to do anything. Punjab government lacks both the will and the capability,” he remarked. “It seems that you people have decided to kill people of thirst [while] bureaucratic tapes appear on each and every matter. It seems that all the papers will be left in the record room of the court,” he continued. “We have said time and again to take measures on a war-footing basis [to resolve the issue],” he added.
The law and justice commission secretary pleaded the court to issue an order in this regard, to which the chief justice replied, “The court will continue to issue orders but the government has become insensitive. People’s lives are associated with water. If the government does nothing, it will be a criminal negligence.”
Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked that the price of water being used by sectors other than bottled water should also be fixed. He observed that the Punjab government has devised a good plan as per the apex court’s directions but only on paper. “No political will is seen,” he remarked.
The apex court declared that the reply submitted by the Punjab government was an attempt to eyewash the judiciary and ordered the federal and provincial governments to submit a fresh response within 15 days.
Published in Daily Times, January 15th 2019.
