No one objects when strange things happen in court: CJP

Islamabad: Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa remarked on Wednesday during the hearing of the dam fund case that many things are done in Pakistan without the constitution and law.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa comprising Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Shahid Bilal will hear the case. The court has issued notices to other parties including the Attorney General, the Chairman Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR), and the Chairperson of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA).

The court has called former Attorney General Khalid Javed, Anwar Maqsood and Makhdoom Ali Khan as judicial assistants.

Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa remarked during the hearing of the dam fund case that many things are done in Pakistan without the constitution and law.

During the hearing, the Additional Attorney Auditor General said that the Supreme Court could not keep the dam funds. As per the order of the Supreme Court, the ‘Prime Minister Chief Justice Dams Funds Account’ was opened, and the Registrar used to look after that Account.

The Additional Auditor General stated that the investigation revealed that there was no irregularity in dam funds and markup. On which the Chief Justice said that the title of the account is inappropriate, it has always been the practice that judicial decisions should not be given precedence over the constitution and law.

Lawyer WAPDA told the court that they have submitted 19 implementation reports since 2018, to which the Chief Justice said that they were not listening to the review, but were seeing whether the Supreme Court can keep the funds or not.

Former Attorney General Khalid Javed Khan said that there is no objection to changing the name of the account of the funds, a lot of things are printed in the newspapers these days. To which CJP Qazi said that he will not let him read the newspaper in the court, instead of political talk, he should assist under the constitution.

Khalid Javed Khan said that dam funds should be used for dams instead of government use. When the dam funds case was going on, the authority of Clause III of Article 184 was extended to the entire country. If the dam funds go to the public account, markup cannot be taken.

The Chief Justice of Pakistan asked if the funds could be kept in private banks for markup from the public account, to which the Additional Auditor General said that he had never seen such a thing in his 37 years of service. Justice Qazi Faez Isa said that they will not look into the Supreme Court order regarding the construction of dams.

The lawyer of the victims said that the third-party disputes are also connected with this case. The Chief Justice asked that they not file the revision at that time. When strange things are happening in the Supreme Court, no one objects.

The legal advisor State Bank told the court that the dams fund currently has more than Rs23 billion, the amount coming into the fund is Rs11 billion and the markup is more than Rs12 billion.

It is pertinent to note that in the previous hearing, the federal government had asked for the money collected in the dam fund. The court was told that Rs20 billion is available with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for the dam fund.

The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) asked the State Bank officials who pay the markup. On which Additional Auditor General Ghafran Memon said that the government pays mark-up through T-bills. The dam fund has been fully investigated, there was no misappropriation.

Justice Qazi Faez Isa said how and why the government is giving itself markup. Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman said that the markup is paid on the money that the government uses. The Chief Justice remarked that they were happy by putting the markup burden on the government that Rs11 billion increased to Rs23 billion, this is like deceiving someone. Can the Supreme Court keep the dam fund money?

The Additional Auditor General replied that the dam fund should go to WAPDA through the government's public account.

Justice Naeem Afghan remarked that the financial condition of the government is not good. What will happen if the money is not given to WAPDA? The Chief Justice asked in which jurisdiction the Supreme Court kept asking for the progress report of the construction of dams.

WAPDA lawyer Saad Rasool said that the purpose of the court was only to ensure the implementation of the order for the construction of dams. Chief Justice said, is there any mention of the constitution of the implementation bench? WAPDA's lawyer said that the constitution does not mention the implementation bench but there is no restriction either.

Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa said that many things are done in Pakistan without the constitution and law.

Former Attorney General Khalid Javed stated that the concept of implementation bench was started from the Karachi riots case. Qazi Faez Isa said that he had taken the oath of supremacy and implementation of the Constitution and not of judicial decisions.

The Supreme Court adjourned the hearing of the dam funds case till Friday.