On March 20, the chief justice took on Tuesday suo motu notice of a photograph circulating on social media showing a funeral procession passing over sewage in a narrow street. Photo: file

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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court ordered on Thursday the cleaning up of Hujra Shah Muqeem, a small town in Okara, in a month.

The town gained prominence after the picture of a funeral procession passing through sewage got the court's attention.

Hearing the suo motu case, a three-member led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar remarked that the place from where the funeral procession was passing was not fit for normal passage.

While addressing the chairman of the area's elected committee, the chief justice said: ?Chairman sahab, what is happening in your area? Have you seen the piles of garbage in your area? You haven't improved the conditions in a little more than a year.?

Responding to this, the municipal committee chairman assured the top judge that the conditions are improving and further improvement will come in two more weeks.

Moreover, Hujra Shah Muqeem's member provincial assembly (MPA) also failed to appear before the court. The public lawyer informed the court that the MPA is currently out of the country.

Viral picture suo motu: CJP summons Okara town's committee members

CJP had taken suo motu notice of picture showing funeral procession passing through sewage

The court then set a deadline of a month for the authorities to clean the town and the hearing was adjourned till the first week of May.

At the last hearing, the chief justice had summoned all the municipal committee members of Hujra Shah Muqeem and the exact location of the picture was also identified. 

During the hearing, Chief Justice Nisar regretted that the clothes of those passing through sewage would have been ruined and wondered how they would have offered funeral prayers in dirty clothes.

On March 20, the chief justice took on Tuesday suo motu notice of a photograph circulating on social media showing a funeral procession passing over sewage in a narrow street.

In his remarks, the chief justice had said that dirtiness and pollution is a threat to human life.