The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday directed the owners of 11 mineral water companies to present themselves in court today.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Mian Saqib Nisar warned that if the company owners failed to present themselves before the court, their names would be put on the exit control list (ECL).
During the suo motu hearing on bottled water case, CJP reprimanded Advocate Aitzaz Ahsan for suggesting that the the case be heard after the top judge returns from a scheduled trip to the United Kingdom. Advocate Ahsan had proposed that the hearing be set on November 30 instead.
“Do you want me to compromise and leave for my visit to the UK? Are those people who are selling dirty water entitled to forgiveness?” said CJP Nisar, in response to the request. According to a report on the quality of bottled water, every company in the case utilises 90 million litres of water a day. The report mentioned that there was no certified method to determine the quality of water being supplied by these corporations. It said that only Qarshi had a certified laboratory to gauge the quality and content of water.
The report also found that groundwater contained fluoride and arsenic and none of the companies were aware of how polluted it was.
Published in Daily Times, November 20th 2018.
