KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday directed K-Electric and other official respondents to file their respective comments on a constitutional petition against the unprecedented loss of life caused by the recent heatwave coupled with power cuts.

The bench was seized with the hearing of a constitutional petition filed by Rana Faizul Hasan, a civil rights campaigner and secretary general of the United Human Rights of Pakistan (UHRP).

Mr Hasan sought action against the federal, provincial and K-Electric authorities for the deaths from the heatwave.

The petition was clubbed together with an identical petition filed by Advocate Moulvi Iqbal Haider, a practising lawyer known for his public interest litigation, and the case hearing was put off to the first week of August.

In his petition, the advocate had sought cancellation of the privatisation of the power utility as it had failed to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the people.

Forest land case

The division bench also directed the chief secretary and the secretaries of the forest, law and finance departments to submit comments on a petition against the allotment of 9,000 acres of forest lands to the army.

The bench also issued a notice to the provincial law officer and adjourned the hearing to Aug 6.

The petition against the distribution of forest lands instead of arable lands among the heirs of martyred soldiers was filed by UHRP secretary general Rana Faizaul Hasan.

He submitted that the chief minister had announced allotment of 9,000 acres of forest lands in Garhi Yasin of Shikarpur district to Pakistan Army for distribution among the legal heirs of martyred military personnel.

The petitioner said the provincial government allotted forest land in violation of a court order, as an SHC bench had restrained the authorities from allotment of forest land with a ruling that it could not be used for any other purpose.

He asked as to why the government had allotted the forest land to be distributed among heirs of martyred soldiers when there was arable farming land available in the province.

Mr Hassan said that he provincial government had decided to allot the land when its many functionaries were arrested for their involvement in corrupt practices.

He asked the court to cancel the allotment of 9,000 acres of forest lands to army and direct the provincial authorities to allot revenue land.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2015

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