KARACHI, Aug 18: A suit was instituted in the Sindh High Court on Monday for the recovery of damages amounting to Rs10 billion from the federal government, the Karachi Port Trust, the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation and the Environmental Protection Agency for the losses caused to the city and its residents by the oil spill from the broken ship Tasman Spirit.
Plaintiff PPP MNA Sherry Rahman submitted through Barrister Kamal Azfar that the avoidable mishap was caused by the negligence and dereliction of duty by the defendants and they were individually and jointly liable to pay compensation for the resulting environmental and financial losses, ailments and physical discomfort suffered by the people of Karachi.
The amount of damages should be put at the disposal of a committee of citizens for combating pollution and improving environmental and hygienic conditions in the city.
Besides destroying marine life and polluting environment and obstructing shipping lanes, the plaintiff said, the spill had rendered jobless a large number of people who depended on fisheries for their livelihood. Besides direct damage, it affected the health of seafood and poultry consumers.
CRIMINAL COMPLAINT: Meanwhile, Advocate Aqil Lodhi has lodged a criminal complaint against the owners of Tasman Spirit, the PNSC and the KPT with the town police officer of Keamari and the SHO of the Keamari police station.
He alleged on behalf of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights that the ship was not seaworthy but was commissioned by the PNSC for wrongful gains to be made by its officers. The ship was hired and insured in violation of the international maritime and insurance laws, the lawyer alleged, seeking prosecution of the offending organizations and individuals.
NOTICE ISSUED: The Sindh High Court has issued a notice to the advocate-general for Aug 26 in a constitutional petition moved by the Karachi Building Control Authority for a direction to the provincial government to amend the Sindh Building Control Ordinance (SBCO) 1979, to enable and empower it to perform its statutory functions.
The petition had particularly cited the Mehran City Project, Manghopir, as an example of gross violations of the building law and rules and the KBCA’s inability to curb them, and sought restraint orders, including foreign travel ban, against the builders — the members and partners of the Tasman Construction Company.
A division bench comprising Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and S. Ali Aslam Jafri, heard the petition and barred the builders from alienating any plot or bungalow in the project till further orders.
The petition, filed by advocates Shahid Jamil and Mirza Sarfaraz Ahmad, stated that the KBCA was handicapped in the discharge of its duties by the absence of police and magisterial assistance and lack of cooperation from the KESC, KWSB, SSGC and PTCL.
To overcome some of the disabilities, it proposed that a new section (numbered 18-A) be ordered to be inserted in the SBCO for the establishment of a KBCA special court with a sessions-cum-civil court’s powers to provide assistance to the authority and its officers, particularly in demolition of unauthorized and dilapidated structures. It should be duly empowered under the penal and criminal procedure codes and other laws to settle disputes between a purchaser or allottee and developer or builder. It should also have the authority to order attachment and sale or auction of property. The special judge should be a KBCA officer in grade 18 or above appointed in consultation with the chief justice of the Sindh High Court. A sub-section (number 10) should be added to the existing Section 12 to confer exclusive jurisdiction on the court in respect of the matters falling within its purview.
Another new provision in the SBCO, Section 18-B, should change the name of ‘KDA police station’ to ‘KBCA police station’ with all the powers exercisable by an SHO under the Cr.PC, the petition said. It should function under the control and supervision of the chief controller of buildings, KBCA. The existing KDA police station has powers confined to the SBCO and has no authority to register an FIR, it pointed out.
The petition recalled that the SBCO amendment proposals were sent to the (former) governor on Oct 21, 2002. They were turned down by the provincial government through its law department by a letter dated March 7, 2003. The petition prayed to the high court to declare the rejection letter as violative of Article 4 of the Constitution that guaranteed the right of individuals to be dealt with in accordance with the law and Section 24-A of the General Clauses Act.
The petitioner expressed the apprehension that the respondent, Tasman Construction, and its partners, Sultan Ahmad Sani and Muhammad Latif, might misappropriate the funds already received by them from the prospective purchasers of plots and bungalows in the Mehran City Project and might flee the country. The petitioner requested the court to order that their names be put on the exit control list.