KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has again directed the NED University of Engineering and Technology to file its report about evaluation of drainage infrastructure in Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) and Defence Housing Authority (DHA) in month.

The counsel for the petitioners informed the SHC that they were ready to pay the requisite fee to conduct the exercise, but university officials were not giving any appropriate response.

Earlier, the SHC had asked the NED University to submit a report and had also issued directives to the CBC, DHA and petitioners to provide requisite information and documents to the vice chancellor of NED University.

When the two-judge bench headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi took up the matter for hearing, a lawyer for petitioners argued that they had approached officials concerned of the university, expressed their willingness to pay the fee as per the court order, but they did not get any appropriate response from the university.

The bench asked officials of NED University to process further in the light of its earlier order and submit a report within 30 working days after settlement of fee payment by the petitioners.

Dozens of residents of Clifton and DHA had approached the SHC in 2020 against the sewerage infrastructure that caused flooding during the torrential rains.

In November last, the SHC had directed the NED University to conduct the evaluation of the drainage infrastructure in the jurisdictions of CBC and DHA and file a report within one month.

In February, the counsel for petitioners had placed a copy of letter before the bench issued by the VC of NED University, Dr Sarosh Hashmat Lodi, asking them to provide relevant data of existing network, topographic sheets, alignment details and other record as well as to designate a focal person.

The letter further said that the DHA had already hired a consultancy firm for the same purpose and best and quickest way to overcome the problem is to allow NED University to vet the design/retrofit submitted by the consultancy firm hired by the DHA.

Initially, around 60 residents had filed a petition before the SHC seeking formation of a committee to supervise sanitation projects and conducting a forensic audit of the CBC and DHA accounts after the auditor general’s report found irregularities. Later, another identical petition was also filed.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2022