Karachi's price-control regime exemplifies the absurdity of governance reduced to ritual, where laws exist but enforcement is selectively applied, leaving consumers vulnerable and vendors unafraid. The Commissioner Karachi is statutorily responsible for daily fixation and enforcement of prices of essential commodities like meat, milk, poultry, vegetables, and fruits. Official price lists are printed and displayed across the city, yet on the ground, compliance is almost entirely absent. Vendors openly violate notified prices without embarrassment or fear, and consumers are placed in an impossible position: submit quietly or invite confrontation.
Commissioner Counters: A Vanished Deterrent
To address this charade, the Commissioner's office introduced Commissioner Counters in medium-size and large retail outlets, aiming to provide visible state presence and immediate redress. However, these counters have vanished without explanation. In the entire Defence Housing Authority area, from smallest outlets to largest retail chains, no meaningful Commissioner Counter remains. Even before their disappearance, many counters had been reduced to a mockery, with poorly packed items placed obscurely in neglected corners, lacking proper branding or supplier details. The shabby presentation seemed designed to discourage scrutiny rather than assist consumers. Eventually, items were removed, signage taken down, and the concept erased, reflecting not defiance but certainty that enforcement had ceased to matter.
Plastic Bag Ban: Selective Enforcement
The same pattern repeats with the plastic bag ban. Major stores were directed to replace plastic bags with paper ones, starting with fanfare and inspections. Within a fortnight, plastic bags returned as if the ban never existed. No fines followed, no outlets were sealed, and no deterrent was established. Large stores began selling cloth shopping bags at checkout counters, effectively monetising a ban they themselves violate. Customers are nudged into purchasing these bags, while plastic bags continue to be freely used inside the same stores for meat, vegetables, and fruits. The ban applies selectively, more to optics than to practice, and is not environmental policy but selective enforcement masquerading as reform.
Systemic Rot and the Need for Administrative Resolve
When such violations occur openly in posh, high-visibility, well-policed areas of Karachi, the implications for the rest of the city are obvious. If the law is not enforced where scrutiny is greatest, it is almost certainly absent elsewhere. The rot is systemic, not isolated. Karachi suffers from the normalisation of non-compliance and the evaporation of fear of enforcement. Vendors no longer worry about inspectors, retail chains no longer anticipate penalties, and consumers no longer expect protection. What is required is not another circular or press release but administrative resolve. Enforcement and reporting staff must be shaken up, as either violations are not being reported, or reports are being ignored, or compromised. None of these possibilities is acceptable.
Restoring Commissioner Counters and Uniform Enforcement
Commissioner Counters must be restored in all major retail outlets without exception. The plastic bag ban must be enforced uniformly, not theatrically. Most importantly, enforcement actions must be visible enough to restore public confidence that the law still exists beyond paper. A city cannot be governed by signage and symbolism alone. Laws must first be enforced before they can be respected. Until then, Commissioner Counters will remain exactly what they have become: a mockery of the law, if not a quiet source of corruption.
