SUKKUR: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday came down hard on Chief Minister’s Adviser on Sukkur affairs over poor performance of the city’s municipality and gave it three months to improve civic conditions and resolve certain other issues.

CM’s adviser Barrister Arsalan Islam Sheikh, who is a former mayor of the city, appeared before a two-judge bench comprising Justice Muhammad Faisal Kamal Alam and Justice Amjad Ali Sahito.

Justice Sahito expressed his displeasure over Sukkur Municipal Corporation’s indifferent attitude towards its duties and observed that the city had been ruined while the administration was seen nowhere.

The judge also expressed his resentment over exorbitant spending on building a tower in the city, and remarked that many school buses could have been purchased with this huge money. He told the adviser that schoolchildren were often seen clinging to rickshaws and other vehicles risking their lives. “You don’t wake up early in the morning, otherwise you would have seen these pathetic scenes,” Justice Sahito remarked. “Citizens are supplied water from places surrounded by sewage flowing into river,” he noted.

Justice Faisal remarked: “Arsalan Saheb, you told the court about your plan to launch a coffin bus service … you came up with a plan regarding dead and graveyard instead of serving alive people”.

Referring to various orders pertaining to improvement in civic conditions, he regretted that court had to do what was supposed to be done by the city administration.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2022