KARACHI, Aug 26: The federal government has appointed a district and session judge as new chairman of the environmental protection tribunal in Karachi.

According to a notification issued by the Law, Justice and Human Rights division, Nabi Bux Talpur, district and session judge, Sanghar has been appointed chairperson of the Karachi environment tribunal for a period of three years. The ministry hoped that the tribunal would start functioning soon.

Under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, the tribunal can take up cases of air and noise-pollution, hazardous waste and oil-spill and other destructions. However, due to ignorance on the part of citizens and lack of will on the part of environmental activists and organizations, the Karachi tribunal, which was notified in October 1999 and bestowed with necessary staff, is yet to hear a case.

The government has also appointed Rasheed Ahmed Sheikh and Javed Butt as member legal and member technical of the tribunal, respectively. In the meantime, government has also approved the establishment of environmental protection tribunals at Peshawar and Quetta which are likely to start functioning soon. An environmental tribunal is already functional at Lahore.