KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has summoned senior government functionaries in a petition about cultivation of vegetables through sewage.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar directed the additional secretary, agriculture department, additional deputy commissioners Malir and Korangi and director-legal of the Sindh Food Authority to appear in person before it on the next hearing.

It also asked the additional DCs to file a progress report about action taken so far.

The bench observed that though the petitioner was found absent, it was a public interest matter in which it had also issued notices to DCs of Malir and Korangi districts on previous hearings regarding the fact that some persons were growing vegetables through sewage in their respective jurisdictions.

In the previous hearings, the bench had also issued several directives to both the DCs to form a task force in their jurisdictions for proper vigilance and survey and to stop the farming through sewage and take all necessary action.

SHC observes ‘petty issues’ of transfer/posting should not be brought to the court

The bench was also informed during an earlier hearing that vegetables and grass were being cultivated at around 290 acres of government land in the Malir riverbed of Deh Sharabi, Taluka Ibrahim Haideri.

Later, a counsel turned up on behalf of some private persons and submitted that some land was allotted to them by the government on a 30-year lease.

The petitioner submitted in the petition that vegetables were being grown through sewage and industrial waste in Korangi, Malir, Landhi and other areas located on the outskirts of the city and these vegetables were not fit for human consumption.

Home secy summoned

Another division bench has directed the secretary and special secretary of the home department to be in attendance on Dec 10 along with relevant record over the continuous preventive detention of five men set free by the SHC in two cases in April this year.

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, commonly known as Shaikh Omar, Fahad Naseem, Salman Saqib and Sheikh Adil were set free by the SHC after setting aside the trial court order in the abduction and murder case of US journalist Daniel Pearl while Abdul Hameed Bugti was acquitted in the PIDC car bombing case.

They approached the SHC against their detention orders issued by the provincial home department to keep them behind bars despite the SHC orders.

The two-judge bench headed by Justice K.K. Agha also directed the advocate general and prosecutor general to make their submissions in both the petitions on the next hearing. The AG agreed to provide in chamber a sealed envelope setting out in chronological order each preventive detention order in each case and behind each detention order the material which was relied upon, the bench added.

Pleas for posting to be decided in 15 days

The SHC has directed the Sindh chief secretary and secretaries of all departments as well as the heads of local authorities not to delay and deny the postings by the departments in future and decide such cases within 15 days.

While hearing a petition of a government official for not allowing him to join duties despite successful completion of the process and issuance of the posting order, a division bench headed by Justice Nadeem Akhtar observed that it had become a common practice that petitions were being filed in SHC seeking posting.

It further said that such petty issues should not be directly brought before this court and the secretary, or the head of the department concerned, must be approached first by aggrieved officials.

It directed the chief secretary, heads of all the departments and local administration to decide such applications/complaints within 15 days strictly in accordance with law through a speaking order after providing an opportunity of hearing to the applicant.

The bench also directed its office not to entertain any such petition in future unless this remedy was exhausted by the person/official for posting.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2020