KARACHI, Jan 2 The Sindh environmental protection tribunal on Saturday ordered issuance of a bailable warrant against the owner of an ice factory who failed to appear before the tribunal despite being summoned.

The owner is one of the respondents in a case pertaining to the Pak Ice Factory, which is reportedly functioning in a residential area, off Jamila Street in Lyari Town. The factory has allegedly been creating health and environmental problems in the area for long, but remained unnoticed or uninterrupted by any government agency.

The environmental protection tribunal is headed by Ashraf Jahan and comprises technical and legal experts, Dr Samiuzzaman and Abdul Karim Memon, respectively.

On a previous hearing of the case on Dec 21, 2009, the tribunal took notice of the absence of the factory owner and ordered that he must ensure his presence or representation by a lawyer on the next hearing otherwise action would be taken against him.

The tribunal ordered issuance of a warrant against the factory owner in the sum of Rs50,000 on Saturday, as neither the respondent nor his counsel appeared before the tribunal.

In the meantime, deputy district public prosecutor Abdul Maroof appeared before the tribunal on behalf of the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa). As he started making arguments on his plea that the names of the chief secretary and the environment secretary be deleted from the main complaint, complainant's counsel, Imtiaz A. Effendi, who appeared for the first time before the tribunal, sought time to study the case.

The complainant's counsel submitted that he was engaged for the case just a day back and had not yet gone through the case papers.

Mr Maroof filed written comments and reports on behalf of Sepa, which was given a last chance to submit its report on the complaint filed against the factory.

According to the Sepa report, Mr Maroof said, its technical committee on the subject and other officials inspected the ice factory site on various dates last year and arrived at the conclusion that parameters of noise, leakage of ammonia and moisture / humidity were within the limits and national standards. However, the report mentioned that the piece of land where the factory was located, which is a major concern of the complainant, pertained to the town municipal administration or master plan office of the city government, he added.

The tribunal's chairperson adjourned the hearing till Jan 16.