ISLAMABAD: Hearing the Katas Raj suo motu case, the Supreme Court Tuesday summoned the record of Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Chairman Siddiqul Farooq and imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on Assistant Advocate General Punjab Asma Hamid.
The three-member bench also expressed reservations over the absence of Punjab Chief Secretary Zahid Saeed and chairman Planning and Development Commission during the hearing.
The historic pond — a revered site for Hindus — is said to have depleted, as the nearby cement factories are sucking the underground water. The chief justice remarked that if the pond water was depleting because of cement factories, then the factories should make other arrangements to get water.
The chief justice remarked that Katas Raj temple and pond should be restored to their original state, adding that cement factories were adversely affecting the local environment. The chief justice directed the cement factories to give a timeline for making alternative arrangements for water. "They’ve consumed mountains," the chief justice remarked, referring to the cement factories.
He also summoned a response from the Punjab government on the export of limestone. The chief justice also came down hard on the ETPB Chairman Farooq asking how he could continue in the office when his term had expired.
“How long will political appointments continue to be made in the country,” the chief justice asked. The hearing was then adjourned for an indefinite period. In its previous hearing, the Supreme Court had also lashed out at the ETPB and its chairman.
The chief justice had summoned details of properties operated by the ETPB and the funds generated from them. The chief justice warned that if the details were not presented in the next hearing, then Farooq should leave his post.
“Where institutions will not do anything, we will,” he remarked, adding that in such cases there should be no complaints of the court exceeding its jurisdiction. "Farooq’s credentials for appointment are his 30 years of political service," observed the chief justice, adding that someone who collected newspapers in the party office was appointed to such an important post.
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