PESHAWAR, March 30: Speakers at a seminar have observed that the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997 needed to be amended before the setting up of tribunals to take action against people polluting the environment.

The one-day seminar: "Separate Environmental Tribunals in NWFP" was organised by the IUCN here on Tuesday. Representatives of the NWFP Environmental Protection Agency, Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Lawyers participated in the discussion to review the performance of the two environmental tribunals which are already functioning in Lahore and Karachi.

Farhan Sami, an IUCN representative, said that the ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights through Section 20(1) of the PEPA 1997 established two environmental protection tribunals in 1999 and it started working in Lahore for the Punjab and NWFP but the second one in Karachi was not operational due to the non-appointment of the chairperson.

A study was conducted by IUCN for strengthening the Institutional Capacity for the legal and judicial reforms. "The study revealed that not a single case was filed in Sindh and Balochistan provinces as the tribunal was not functioning. Whereas in February 2004, 33 cases were filed by NWFP EPA and 25 by the EPD Punjab", Mr Sami told the participants.

Senator Barrister Shahida Jamil said that PEPA, 1997 needed to be redone otherwise it would create certain complications for the public and private sectors. Industries could not be just ordered to work properly if the laws were in the air and the situation on ground was not supporting the law.

"This law is an industry killer and small industries could not afford expensive treatment plants. There should be laws to take action against those industries who create pollution but huge infrastructural support was also required.

There should be rationality while adopting such laws. The laws are there but the enforcing agency and infrastructure is not there. There is this big vacuum and that's why these laws are not working", Shahida Jamil said.