KARACHI - Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday directed City District Government Karachi (CDGK) as well as the other departments from deforesting in any area of the metropolis without the permission of the court. The division bench comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Safdar Ali Bhutto held the hearing over the constitutional petition moved by Qazi Ali Athar. The bench issued the directive to CDGK, KESC, and other civic agencies, after hearing the comments from the counsels. The plaintiff submitted that apart from the mangroves, the CDGK had cut more then five thousand trees across the city, causing air pollution as well as increasing temperature in the city. He maintained that in place of trees, the authorities had planted small plants, which were being imported. These are not only tremendously costly but also disadvantageous for the city. Similarly, hundred of thousands of mangroves have been cut from the costal belt of the city, but no action has been taken in this regard. The petitioner made respondent in the petition to CDGK, Sindh Government and Environmental Protection Agency. While mentioning the previous report issued by Economic Survey of Pakistani in 1996, which revealed that Pakistani authorities have been violating the international rules regarding the forest. The bench issued the direction and adjourned the hearing for the next hearing to be fixed later. Direction for profit distribution Another division bench consisting of Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Malik Mohammad Aqil disposed of the petition over distribution of profit bonuses among the employees of State Bank, with the direction to distribute the profit among all the employees equally under the uniform policy. The bench ordered after hearing the comments from both the sides. Earlier, in the last hearing, the court had asked both the parties to settle the matter out of the court, but they failed to do so. The lower ranked employees of State Bank filed the petition against the higher officials by submitting that the bank received bonus profit of Rs 60 million, but they did not agree to provide proper share to the lower ranked employees under uniform policy. The plaintiffs maintained that Rs 30 million was being distributed among the officials from grade-2 alone; while the whole lower ranked employees were being provided the remaining bonus profit amount. The court directed the State Bank to distribute the profit amount among the whole employees of the bank. Petitions regarding IDPs Meanwhile, Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Safdar Ali Bhutto jointed two petitions pertaining Internally Displaced Persons (IDP), moved separately by True Line International Foundation (TLIF) and Iqbal Kazmi for 29 May. The plaintiffs submitted in their petitions that the IDPs were intercepted in the boarder areas of Sindh, while they are not being allowed to enter Sindh, particularly in Karachi. They maintained in their petitions that as being Pakistani nationals, the IDPs should not be intercepted to move anywhere in the country, while they pleaded to make proper arrangements for their registration and also to provide them proper shelters in Sindh.