KARACHI, Jan 23: A division bench of the Sindh High Court again directed the traffic police on Wednesday to ensure that motor rickshaws plying were fitted with silencers and that two-stroke rickshaws were phased out to reduce air and noise pollution.
As a writ petition moved by Advocate Islam Hussain came up for hearing before a division bench comprising Justices Munib Ahmed Khan and Syed Pir Ali Shah, the court took the view that the problem of traffic congestion, lack of public transport, shifting of inter-city buses and other vehicles and elimination of air and noise pollution required a holistic approach comprehensively dealing with the various issues involved. For instance, if rickshaws were taken off the roads at one go, it would render thousands of people jobless. The issue would have to be addressed in phases, it said.
The petitioner-lawyer said several interlocutory orders have been passed on the petition to ensure that the problem was solved gradually without causing dislocation. The problem could not, however, be wished away and howsoever small, measures should be taken to make a start otherwise it would become entirely insoluble with the passage of time. He said the court had ordered on the previous date installation of silencers on rickshaws, a modest attempt to deal with pollution, but there was no compliance. He also referred to the Supreme Court orders of 1996 and 2003 that remained unimplemented.
The bench directed the traffic police to ensure compliance with the order and also see that the silencers were embossed with the registration number so that they could not be removed or replaced. The petitioner was asked to add the federal government as a respondent in view of the complexity of the issues involved and the need for a uniform policy framework. Further hearing was adjourned to a date in March.
The federal government was represented by Deputy Attorney-General Rizwan A. Siddiqui, the provincial government by Additional Advocate-General M. Ahmed Pirzada and the city government by Advocate Manzoor Ahmed.
Wheat supply to flour mill
Another division bench comprising Justices Azizullah M. Memon and Arshad Noor ordered the provincial food department to release 1,000 bags of wheat to a flour mill in Shikarpur. The mill had approached the court against cancellation of its wheat quota for allegedly extracting more fines than producing whole-meal flour. The bench had summoned the food director but he failed to appear. The petitioner mill had claimed a supply of 3,200 bags. The bench ordered supply of 1,000 bags for production of whole-meal flour and adjourned further hearing.
Free will marriage
Another division bench adjourned the hearing of a couple’s petition for cancellation of an FIR to February 8. Mst Sharifan and Akbar Ali submitted through Advocate Shiraz Iqbal Chaudhry that they contracted a free will marriage at Tando Mohammad Jan in May 2007. Sharifan’s father and brother lodged a criminal complaint against Akbar and the police arrested his cousins. The bench ordered the police not to harass the couple and adjourned further hearing.
Hydrant woes
Another division bench comprising Justices Mrs Yasmin Abbasey and Farrukh Zia G. Shaikh on Wednesday once again ordered the removal of the Muslimabad Hydrant within a month, adds APP.
The bench was hearing a constitution petition filed by a woman resident of the locality who maintained that the hydrant operated in a purely residential area had made the locals’ life miserable.
Making the Karachi Nazim and the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board as respondents, the petitioner maintained that the streets and roads of the area had been badly damaged by the water tankers plying near the hydrant.
The bench noted that orders had earlier been passed. The bench expressing surprise and anguish directed the respondents to ensure implementation of the court’s order within a month.
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