Allowing construction of maximum six-storied buildings, the Supreme Court on Sunday strictly restrained the builders from raising more than six floors in any part of Karachi. The apex court bench, headed by the CJP and comprising Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was hearing a miscellaneous application of Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD), requesting it to lift the ban on construction of high-rise buildings.
The apex court, while hearing the case pertaining to provision of pure drinking water and sanitation issues, in March 2017 had imposed a ban on construction of multi-storied building until the issues are resolved. ABAD in its application pleaded the court to lift its ban, maintaining that allotees of new projects were suffering as they could not be handed over possession of their flats or floors booked earlier. The lawyer, representing the builders'''' association argued that there was no shortage of the water in the city as the issue was only fair distribution.
While remarking that they could not allow more than six-storied buildings, the court strictly directed the builders to follow its directives in this regard. Meanwhile, the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Sunday ordered the makers of tea whiteners to inscribe ''''It''''s not milk'''' on the packets of tea whiteners within four weeks.
Hearing a case pertaining to substandard packaged milk at its Karachi registry, the apex court full bench, headed by the CJP, and comprising Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, came down hard on health secretary and asked him whether there was any drug inspector in the province or not. During the hearing, the court''''s Nazir submitted his report regarding the injections being given to buffalos to increase milk quantity. The report said that such injections were being sold in the market, adding that 39 packets of the same were confiscated from one medical store.
The court ordered that drug inspectors should be assigned to conduct raids in the market for recovering such injections and ascertaining the stock available at retailers and distributors. Besides, the court also directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to initiate crackdown on the milk-increasing injections being sold in the market.
The CJP remarked that milk and tea whitener were two separate things, adding that some companies manufacture tea whiteners only while others sell milk in packs. "Tea whitener is not milk at all," said the top judge of the country.
The court directed the makers of tea whiteners to clearly inscribe ''''It''''s not milk'''' on the packets and make it advertised in newspapers and television. The makers of tea whiteners maintained that the tea whitener was made of the milk on which the CJP once again said it was not milk. "We are allowing you four-week time so as to save you from loss. The court''''s directives should be complied with within stipulated time," the judges ruled.
Earlier on Saturday, the court directed authorities to conduct lab tests of all packaged milk brands being sold in Sindh from Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR). The court ordered that the samples of all brands be collected and the same should be examined from the PCSIR. It sought the report on the quality of the milk within 15 days.