KARACHI: Expressing extreme annoyance over the non-compliance of its orders for umpteenth time, the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday once again directed the city police authorities to ensure shifting of oil tankers to the Zulfikarabad Oil Terminal.

A two-judge bench comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Gulzar Ahmed also warned the officials concerned that con-tempt of court proceedings would be initiated against them in case the shifting of the oil carriers did not start immediately.

The bench was seized with the hearing of an application of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation administrator seeking court`s direction to the police and Rangers to ensure shif ting of oil tankers to the Zulfikarabad oil terminal as the tanker operators resisted their shifting from Shireen Jinnah Colony to the terminal.

The KMC application was tagged with a petition filed by Shagufta Bibi, a resident of Clifton Block-1, who had in 2012 asked the then Chief Justice of Pakistan to order the shifting of the oil tankers from the locality.

The woman had initially written a letter to the then CJP, who converted it into a petition.The petitioner complained that heavy oil tankers were parked on both sides of the main road in Clifton Block-1 and its surrounding area. Besides, she said a number of auto workshops had been opened in the locality, making the lives of area residents miserable.

She submitted that the oil tanker operators had encroached upon streets in Block-1 and its adjoining areas, causing environmental hazards and affecting residents` privacy, as families could not move about freely due to vehicles activity. She added that oil tankers were being parked in the residential parts of the colony causing hardship to the people.

The representatives of the oil tanker owners stated that no parl(ing place was available for them at the moment and they werecompelled to park their vehicles either near the seashore or in the adjacent populated areas.

During the past three years, the apex court time and again directed the authorities and the oil tanker owners and operators to remove their vehicles immediately from the residential area of Shireen Jinnah Colony, a neighbourhood in Clifton, but to no avail.

On Wednesday, the focal person of the provincial transport authority told the judges that 50 per cent work on the construction of the terminal had been done but oil tankers could not be shifted there.

One of the bench members remarked that the land in Shireen Jinnah Colony had been illegally occupied for years and oil tankers had not been removed from there despite repeated orders. The judge also warned the authorities of action, observing that no further delay in compliance with the court order regarding removal of the oil tankers from Shireen Jinnah Colony would be tolerated.

In his application, the KMC administrator stated that the Zulfikarabad oil terminal was fully operational, but the oil tanker owners and operators were not ready to shift to the new terminal, spread over 150 acres. He sought court direction to the law-enforcement agencies for assisting the cityadministration in shifting the oil tankers away from Shireen Jinnah Colony.

The KMC also submitted a report on the matter stating that work on 32 acres had already been completed and the terminal was operational. However, he said, the oil tanker owners and operators and the petroleum ministry had not paid their respective 10 and five per cent share of the expenditure on the construction of the oil terminal.

The bench directed the additional inspector general of police, Karachi, DIG (operations) and senior superintendent of police (south) to startshiftingofoiltankers to the newly built terminal and submit a compliance report in the court within one week.