The Supreme Court on Sunday ordered a probe into determining the quality of water being provided by mineral water companies, as well as, a forensic audit of one of the leading bottled water firms.
The directives were issued by the apex court while hearing a suo motu case at its Lahore Registry pertaining to mineral water companies allegedly refusing to pay taxes, Express News reported.
The SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, also called for a forensic audit of a leading private mineral water company within 15 days.
Aitzaz Ahsan, the company’s lawyer, asked the court to carry out the audit once the firm provides its own report first.
The court, however, rejected Ahsan’s request.
Dam opponents are traitors: CJP During today’s proceedings, other companies also requested the court to give them one month’s time before the audit is carried out, which the court refused.
According to the top court, financial audit of these companies would ascertain how much money thy owe to the people of Pakistan.
“The mineral water companies have been earning for the past 20 years [without paying taxes],” Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked.
Chief Justice Saqib Nisar said that the time had come to pay back to the nation.
“A sense of accountability has started to prevail among people.

Lilongwe — Results of the inquiry into the Area 18A water contamination incident that occurred in July, 2017 have been released and handed over to the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) in Lilongwe.
Chief Secretary to OPC, Lloyd Muhara, received the report from the task force chairperson, Rexie Chiluzi at Capital Hill in Lilongwe on Monday on behalf of His Excellency Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika.
The sad incident also prompted the country’s president, Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika to institute a taskforce to find out what had caused the water contamination in the township.
"The taskforce found out and confirmed that water was indeed contaminated with sewage on 18th July, 2017.
The source of sewage was a blocked sewer line that resulted in overflowing manhole," reads part of the report which was made available to the media.
"The flowing sewage infiltrated into the LWB’s burst pipe due to the sewage pool along the roadside drain as a result of low or no pressure in the water pipe," the report further reads.
However, the results of the tests showed negative of E.Coli, meaning the water was fit for human consumption.
"This, therefore, meant that the water was fit for human consumption," says the report and adds that further water tests conducted by Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) and Malawi Environmental Health Association also showed the water was negative of E.Coli, meaning it was fit for human consumption.
"There is need for government, through independent institutions, to make public announcements about the safety of water in Area 18 A in order to regain confidence since the affected people are still skeptical as to whether water being supplied to the area is safe for human consumption," the report further advises.
In the final assessment of affected households made by different institutions, LWB came up with 83, while the legal counsel representing the affected people found that 269 households were affected while Malawi Human Rights Commission estimated that 150 households were affected by the incident.

The report – Inquiry into Havelock North water contamination.
Overview [4]Hastings District Council ("District Council") supplies drinking water to consumers in Havelock North.
[7]This Inquiry has found that several of the parties with responsibility for the water supply regime for Havelock North (in particular the District Council, DWAs and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council ("Regional Council")) failed to adhere to the high levels of care and diligence necessary to protect public health and to avoid outbreaks of serious illness.
The Outbreak [31]In August 2016, an outbreak of gastroenteritis occurred in Havelock North.
Given the evidence received by the Inquiry in relation to the unconfined nature of the aquifer and the security of the Hastings bores and the Brookvale Road bores, the Inquiry considers this was a necessary and prudent decision.
3.What was the source and cause of the contamination of the Havelock North drinking water supply in August 2016.
How was the outbreak managed.
The Regional Council alleged that the District Council had failed adequately to maintain the bore works’ structures for Brookvale Road bores 1 and 2.
He also advised that plans were underway for the Joint Working Group to investigate the security of the aquifer and that the District Council was in the process of reviewing its management and accountability processes in relation to the operation of Brookvale Road bore 3, and the Hastings bores.
[95]As part of the updating evidence, the Inquiry also received evidence from the Chief Executives of the District Council, Regional Council, and the District Health Board as to the workings of the Joint Working Group.

Press Release – Hastings District Council The Hastings District Council has welcomed the findings of the Government Inquiry into the contamination event that affected Havelock Norths water supply in August 2016.Hastings District Council response to Government Inquiry into Havelock North water contamination The Hastings District Council has welcomed the findings of the Government Inquiry into the contamination event that affected Havelock North’s water supply in August 2016.
Mayor Lawrence Yule particularly acknowledged the Inquiry findings regarding the cause of the contamination which was based on the work of the science caucus established by the Inquiry.
“This resulted in contaminated water being sucked into the water supply through Brookvale Bore One while it was operating in the normal manner.” “The Inquiry is clear that Hastings District Council did not cause the contamination to occur,” said Mayor Yule.
“These include maintenance inspections and maintenance record-keeping, the standard of planning and contingency documentation required under the New Zealand Drinking Water Standards, compliance with requests from the Drinking Water Assessors, and the effectiveness of working relationships with other agencies involved in drinking water safety.” “Council is fully committed to addressing and fixing the deficiencies highlighted by the Inquiry to ensure the safety of drinking water in the future,” said Mr McLeod.
· Improving risk management and legal compliance systems.
· Further age testing of aquifer water.
This is underway and will be finalised and reported to Council within the next month once the Inquiry findings have been carefully studied and considered by the review team.
“This event had a huge impact on our community,” said Mr Yule.
“We feel deeply for those people affected by the outbreak, particularly those families who lost loved ones and those that are afflicted by ongoing impacts.
Ends