KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Saturday formed a new medical board comprising neurosurgeons from Punjab and Army besides a private medical university to examine interned leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party Sharjeel Inam Memon, facing trial in a Rs5.76 billion corruption case.

Headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, the three-member SC bench was hearing a suo motu case regarding shifting of the former information minister from the Karachi central prison to a hospital for treatment.

The new board comprising Dr Asif Bashir, a neurosurgeon from Punjab, Dr Athar Inam from the Aga Khan University Hospital and a medical specialist from the army will determine whether the PPP leader can be provided medical treatment inside jail or not.

The apex court ordered the medical board to submit its report within 15 days.

CJP Nisar gives one week to authorities to rid Karachi of garbage

As executive director of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Dr Seemi Jamali informed the judges about the formation of a previous medical board on a court directive, CJP Nisar asked her as to how many rooms had been reserved for the PPP lawmaker. “Was a separate parking space reserved for him as well?” the chief justice went on to ask and then told her that the court knew a lot what happened at her facility.

The JPMC executive director told the judges that Mr Memon had spent eight weeks at the hospital and two rooms were reserved for him; however she declined that there was a separate parking allotted to him.

She said the previous medical board had also been formed on a court’s directive.

Advocate Rashid A. Rizvi, appearing for Mr Memon, told the judges that his client just wanted proper treatment of his ailment wheresoever.

‘Clean city within a week’

While hearing a petition on supply of potable water and provision of proper sanitation facilities, CJP Nisar expressed extreme annoyance at the abysmal and unhygienic situation in Karachi and ordered that the entire city be cleaned up within one week.

“I don’t know how but clean the city. I don’t want to see trash on the streets of Karachi any more,” he made it clear to the authorities present in the court.

At the outset of the hearing, the CJP asked Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar as to who was responsible for lifting garbage from the city and making it clean.

Replying that the Sindh government did not devolve such powers to the local government, the mayor decried the shortage of resources and added that the provincial government had kept all revenue generating departments with itself.

Sindh Chief Secretary Rizwan Memon admitted before the bench that around 4.5 tonnes of garbage was not being lifted from Karachi.

He said work was under way to pick up garbage and a computerised system had been made to monitor this. “If the system was up and running, then why isn’t it fully functional?” the CJP asked the chief secretary.

Mr Memon replied that there were four bodies in the metropolis responsible for removing litter.

The CJP remarked that Mr Akhtar was right as this was the job of DMCs [district municipal corporations], which were subordinate to the Sindh government.

The mayor said there were heaps of garbage in each district of the city and drains had been chocked. He said Karachi had been destroyed and hospitals were full of patients but there was no medicine for them.

CJP Nisar told Mr Akhtar that he was elected by getting votes. “Forget the government and work for the welfare of the common man. I want Karachi to be clean within a week. Carry out cleanliness work even if you have to collect funds (chanda),” he remarked.

Referring to the posters displayed in parts of Karachi’s district south, CJP Nisar asked the people not to run a publicity campaign for him. He said he did not want anyone to do so. “I am just performing my duties, and everybody should play their role by keeping politics aside,” he added.

Earlier, the chief justice was informed that cleanliness measures had been initiated but the administration was unable to lift almost 4.5 tonnes of garbage on a daily basis.

The court asked the chief secretary if he had any objection to an interim report of the judicial commission that had investigated the Sindh government’s alleged failure to provide basic necessities to the people. The chief secretary sought more time from the court to go through the report.

The matter was later adjourned till next week.

Ads with pictures of politicians

Ordering the removal of all advertisements and signboards with pictures of politicians, the chief justice heading a three-member bench of the Supreme Court directed the authorities concerned to place on record information of all such signboards.

The apex court was conducting the suo motu proceedings on government advertisements with pictures of politicians. The CJP remarked: “Newspapers and televisions already run so many advertisements with pictures of politicians, there are even political figures in the government’s posters at polling stations.”

Whether images were of previous leaders or current ones, they would not be featured in government advertisements, the CJP remarked. “All such advertisements need to be removed and their cost value be returned to the national exchequer,” he ordered.

The authorities were further ordered to remove the images of all political personalities from government-owned signboards and banners by April 4.

The court ordered the chief secretary to submit details of all such ads and the money spent on them by April 4.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2018