CJ admonishes bottled water companies for not paying tax
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ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar admonished mineral water companies for not paying tax on extracting worth of billion's groundwater.
Chief Justice said this while heading a three judge bench hearing a suo motu case pertaining to alleged exploitation of water resources by mineral water companies in the country. Companies using wrong name for the bottled water by calling them mineral water as water has not enough minerals and boiled water is much better than it, the Chief Justice added. He said that I left the use of bottled water as it has nothing but an allusion.
Justice Nisar said that the court would not allow water resources to be polluted and depleted even if the companies have to shut down. This is not a case of collecting taxes but now has become a big scandal, adding that the court would not allow them for the nation’s loss. Water companies just making money and have no concerns that people dying of thirst, he remarked.
Meanwhile, Professor Dr Ahsan Siddiqui, amicus curiae, informed the court that well know mineral water company even did not possess equipment to check the water quality and it had also not obtained any certificate from any environmental organization.
The Director General of environment informed that none of the mineral water companies has been paying even a single rupee to the government. He told the court that waste water is released back into the ground, which serves to pollute the groundwater further.
Subsequently, the bench directed Professor Dr Ahsan Siddiqui, amicus curiae to examine all the companies in detail and submit report with in ten days.
The Chief Justice remarked that first of all amicus curiae should visit to a company owned by Ghazi Akhtar. He further maintained that after that court could pass an order to audit bank accounts of such companies.
APP
