Justice Adnanul-Karim Memon observed that the Mayor of Karachi had said water would be supplied through lines, and questioned why residents were still not being provided water.
“Why are you not supplying water to the people?” the court asked the superintendent of KWC.
The judge remarked that water must be supplied to the petitioner’s home. In response, KWC’s counsel, Masroor Ahmed, said the lines were old and that electricity load-shedding was also an issue.
Justice Memon responded that the lines should then be built and that some expenditure should also be incurred for the public.
The KWC superintendent told the court that the utility was receiving very little water from upstream. Justice Memon questioned where tanker operators were obtaining water from if that was the case, noting that tankers were supplying water across Karachi.
“When water is being supplied through tankers, why is it not being given through lines?” the judge asked, adding that it appeared water was available but not being supplied through the pipeline network.
The superintendent said tanker operators also obtain water from illegal hydrants. The court observed that in a legal system, citizens must receive water at their homes.
The bench remarked that the tanker system should be shut down and water supplied through lines, warning that it would pass a strict order in the petition.
The petitioner told the court that water was not reaching his home.
Read: Karachi mayor announces plan to shut hydrants, end tanker water supply
Earlier, Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab announced a major policy shift aimed at dismantling what he described as the city’s “tanker mafia”, saying all hydrants and tanker-based distribution will be phased out and replaced with a direct pipeline supply system.
During a high-level briefing with the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC), Wahab directed officials to gradually shut down the city’s seven functional hydrants. He said residents should receive water at their doorsteps through improved infrastructure rather than relying on costly and temporary tanker services.
Despite the hydrants generating around Rs300 million in monthly revenue, the mayor said their contracts expired last year and would not be renewed. He added that tanker-based supply was neither sustainable nor fair to citizens.
To manage water shortages during the transition, Wahab said the city would introduce an alternating-day water supply schedule for different neighbourhoods.