ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered all provinces to submit progress report on implementation on court orders within 30 days regarding collection of charges from mineral water companies for extracting groundwater, ARY News reported.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial conducted proceedings of a case pertaining to fixing of rates of ground water extraction by mineral water companies.
During the hearing today, the bench member, Justice Ejazul Hassan, asked the authorities about collection of money so far and notifications issued to the stake holders concerned.
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The Punjab government lawyer said monitoring had been started and the provincial government was evaluating rates for different areas.
“The Supreme Court orders are not being implemented due to confusion created by your department,” Justice Hassan remarked.
Some mineral water companies have filed review appeals and the case is subjudice, hence amount couldn’t be collected for this reason, the lawyer responded.
The judge said money should be collected from companies in the light of court orders. Justice Ejazul Hassan resented that none of the provinces have collected any amount so far.
The lawyer of Balochistan government said a factory bill in Quetta stood at Rs 10.4 million and the authorities have sealed the factory after non-payment of the amount.
The additional advocate general of Khyber Pakhtonkhwa government said there were 36 companies operating in the province and six of them had been closed for non-payment.
The court had ordered mineral water companies to pay Rs 1 on extraction of water per liter.
Punjab government’s lawyer told the court that meter readers had been installed in 45 companies and the provincial government was monitoring its reading.
On Jan 13, the apex court had imposed a levy on companies selling mineral water and beverages at a rate of Re1 for every litre of surface water extracted by them.
In January, the Supreme Court had sought details of mechanism devised by the federal and provincial governments for preservation of ground water and measures to prevent its exploitation.
