Sindh High Court (SHC) has ruled that it is the statutory responsibility of the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) to make certain a sufficient and continuous water supply to all citizens residing within its territorial jurisdiction.
The SHC bench, headed by Justice Nadeem Akhtar, also restrained the CBC from charging water tax from the residents in case of disruption of water supply. The court issued these directions while hearing a petition filed by Rukhsana Yahya, a resident of Khayaban-e-Sehar, Phase VI, DHA, who had taken the CBC and others to the court for their failure to supply water in the cantonment board.
The court ordered the CBC to file compliance report with the high court’s Member Inspection Team (MIT) at least for the next six month. “The CBC shall not be entitled to charge, claim or collect water tax from those residents to whom water is not being supplied or provided through supply line,” the court ruled in its seven-page order.
Earlier, the woman petitioner had submitted that she had approached the CBC in 1997 for water connection for her house and all the requisite formalities, including the payment of charges, were fulfilled in this regard. She added that the CBC had not supplied properly instead started supplying two water bowzers per week.
“In 2003, the CBC demanded additional amounts of Rs 4, 845 and Rs11, 870 for supplying water through people supply line and installing water meter. I fulfilled their demands but despite that, the municipal authority failed to supply water through the proper supply line,” she added.
On the other hand, the CBC counsel had submitted that due to acute shortage and scarcity of water occurring time to time, the CBC had to arrange additional water bowzers for the residents of DHA to whom water is not being supplied on regular basis through water supply line.
After hearing the arguments from all sides, the bench comprising Justice Nadeem Akhtar and Justice Arshad Hussain Khan, observed that the CBC ought to have considered the impact of growing population on limited supply of water by keeping universal and elementary principle of demand and supply in mind.
“Indeed the constitution of our country guarantees fundamental rights to every citizen and also equal treatment vis-a-vis such rights,” the judges noted. “The citizens, who are already enjoying such fundamental rights, should not be deprived of their rights to life and amenities and facilities which a person born in a free country is entitled to enjoy with dignity and it cannot be disturbed at the expense of the grant of such rights to others.” the court observed.
The bench also observed in its order that the public functionaries, including all departments and organisations, which are legally bound to perform their functions and duties for the safety, well-being and betterment of general public, must perform their functions and duties with prudence, vigilance and full responsibility.
The court directed the CBC to display the court’s directions on its website and all notice boards immediately and not to remove it without the court’s permission.
