Pakistan Supreme Court has taken suo moto notice of a petition accusing the Atomic Energy Commission of dumping nuclear waste in a place in Punjab province, where mining operations were conducted in the past to get uranium for the country's nuclear programme.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took suo moto notice of the application by Nazeer Ahmed and Maqsood Ahmed, the residents of Baghalchur area in Punjab province who claimed the nuclear waste was affecting their livestock.

"The area has been used as a dumping station for the past year and ponds have become poisonous and animals are losing hair and their hooves are swelling," they said.     

The complaints said some 40 animals had died last year.

However, the bench adjourned the case after the state attorney sought time to file a reply on behalf of the Commission, Daily Times reported. The Commission had earlier claimed that uranium mining operation at Baghalchur was closed in November, 1999. It said the mining operation was closed because the reserves had been extracted.