KARACHI: The SITE Association of Industry on Saturday claimed that industrialists had never agreed to the Sindh government’s new law making it mandatory upon them to ensure installation of treatment plants at their respective units.

The draft of the Sindh Industries Registration Act, 2017 had also not been circulated among all stakeholders before its promulgation, chairman of the association Jawed Bilwani said in a statement. The Sindh government is to table the draft law in the provincial cabinet for approval. The proposed law would also make it mandatory upon all industrial units established since 1991 to get themselves registered with the department.

Mr Bilwani argued that the proposed law would be a parallel and overlapping law and it would envisage a separate set of penalties which were already covered through the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency.

A person, under the doctrine of double jeopardy, could not be punished under two laws for the same offence, he further argued, and said this was bound to happen if the proposed law was promulgated. He reiterated the association’s stance that the proposed combined effluent treatment plant-I should be established in the SITE area by the government.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2017