The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday directed the chief secretary to submit a comprehensive report with regard to enforcement of the Prevention of Defacement of Property Act throughout the province.
Issuing its order on a petition for enforcement of the law dealing with defacement of properties, a division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Adnan-ul-Karim Memon directed all the local councils and authorities to remove the existing defacement within their respective jurisdiction.
The high court directed the chief secretary to constitute an anti-property defacement task force and implement the anti-defacement programme. It observed that the law was enacted to ensure prevention of defacement of properties and prohibit writing, and affixing of posters, banners and advertisement or any other material on the walls and properties within Sindh.
The high court observed that the law prohibited defacement of property in any manner intended to attract public attention and any person violating the provisions of the law was liable to be punished.
The bench observed that the law stipulated that the government may constitute an anti-property defacement task force to assess the nature and extent of defacement, recommend measures to improve the enforcement and propose a comprehensive anti-defacement programme.
The SHC noted that the law provided that every local council shall remove the existing defacement within the jurisdiction and recover the cost from the person responsible for such defacement. The government also had to frame rules for carrying out the purposes of the law, the bench observed.
The SHC observed that the law was a validly enacted law and the government was under a statutory obligation to implement the same in letter and spirit.
The bench observed that record reflected that the provisions of the Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Act, which deal with formation of anti-defacement task force, anti-defacement programme and framing of rules were not being implemented, which amounted to failure on part of the public functionaries to perform their statutory duties.
The high court observed that the non-enforcement of the law not only defeated the very purpose of the legislation but also adversely affected the fundamental rights of the citizens, including the rights to life, dignity, and a clean and healthy environment, which fell within the ambit of the Article 9 of the Constitution.
The SHC directed the chief secretary to submit a comprehensive report with regard to the Enforcement of Prevention of Defacement of Property Act throughout the province and constitute an anti-property task force to implement the anti-defacement programme.
The high court directed all the local councils and authorities to remove all the existing defacement within their respective jurisdiction and asked the government to implement the other provisions of the law in letter and spirit.
The petitioner, M Tariq Mansoor, had submitted in the petition that the law was enacted by the provincial assembly in February 2014 and published in the official gazette on March 6, 2014, however despite more than a decade after its promulgation, the law had not been implemented in letter and spirit.
