KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has barred the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) from collecting water tax, ruling that the Board is not entitled to charge, claim or collect tax from residents not supplied with the essential commodity through pipelines.
The court has also ordered the CBC to file monthly compliance reports regarding supply of water to residents through the SHC’s Member Inspection Team (MIT) for the next six months at least.
The order will provide relief to residents of Defence Housing Authority (DHA) and Clifton, who have to rely on water tankers. The ruling came on a petition filed by Rukhsana Yahya, a resident of DHA, who took the cantonment authorities to court over non-supply of water.
The two-judge bench observed that before granting permission in an unplanned and indiscriminate manner to owners of the properties to raise construction and occupy the same, the CBC ought to have considered the impact of population of residents on the limited supply of water by keeping in mind the elementary and universal principle of ‘demand and supply’.
