Sepa told to file record of Malir Expressway's EIA approval.

KARACHI -- The Sindh Environmental tribunal has directed the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency to submit record of proceedings of the process of approving Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report of the controversial Malir Expressway project.

The tribunal, headed by retired Justice Nisar Ahmed Sheikh, told Sepa officials to submit the record till July 6, and adjourned the hearing.

At the outset, Advocate Ravi Pinjani for M/s Malir Expressway Limited filed the EIA report containing around 800 pages along with a reply to the appeals.

The appellants' counsel, Kazim Hussain Mahesar and Muhammad Imran Kalmati, submitted that the matter involved urgency since the respondent firm was carrying out construction work on the riverbed, causing serious hazardous to the environment. They again requested the tribunal to pass an interim stay order, restraining the respondent from carrying out any sort of construction in the area till final disposal of the appeals.

The tribunal, however, fixed the matter for hearing final arguments from the counsel for the appellants, Sepa's law officer and M/s Malir Expressway Limited, and directed the Sepa's law officer to submit the record of proceedings related to the process of approval of the EIA of the project on July 6.

Last month, the residents of Malir, along with some environmentalists, had challenged the EIA approval for the project alleging that the Sepa accorded the same in violations of the Sindh Environmental Protect Act, 2014 and SEPA (Environmental Review of IEE and EIA) Regulations, 2014.

The location of the project, as per the EIA approval, is starting from right before the Jam Sadiq bridge on...