Islamabad: During the hearing of the dam funds case, the Chief Justice has remarked that how and why the government is giving itself a markup on this amount?
A 3-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Qazi Faiz Isa heard a case related to dams funds, in which the court inquired whether dams funds can be kept in private banks for markup? The court sought assistance from the federal government and WAPDA.
The Additional Auditor General told the court that the Supreme Court cannot retain the amount of dams funds. Prime Minister Chief Justice Dams Funds Account was opened under the order of the Supreme Court. The Registrar maintained the Supreme Court account. Investigation revealed that there was no irregularity in dams funds and markup.
The Chief Justice remarked that the title of the account was inappropriate. It has always been my practice that judicial decisions should not be given precedence over the constitution and law.
WAPDA counsel told the court that we have submitted 19 implementation reports since 2018.
The Chief Justice remarked that we are not hearing the revision, only seeing whether the Supreme Court can keep the funds or not. On which former Attorney General Khalid Javed Khan said that there is no objection to changing the name of the account of the funds. A lot is printed in the newspapers these days. The Chief Justice remarked that you will not be allowed to read the newspaper in the court nor will you read the newspaper here. Support under the constitution instead of political talk.
Former Attorney General said that dams funds should be used for dams instead of the government. When the Dams Funds case was pending, the power of Clause 3 of Article 184 was extended to the whole country.
The Additional Attorney General said that markup cannot be taken if the demesne funds go to the public account. On which the Chief Justice asked whether funds can 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. The Chief Justice said that we will not go towards the Supreme Court’s order regarding the construction of dams.
On this occasion, the counsel for the victims told the court that third party disputes are also connected with the case, on which the Chief Justice remarked that he had not filed the revision at that time. No one seems to mind when strange things are happening in the Supreme Court.
During the hearing, the legal advisor of the State Bank told the court that there is a total amount of more than 23 billion rupees in the dams funds. 11 billion in funds while the markup on it is more than 12 billion rupees.
The Chief Justice inquired who pays the markup? On which the Additional Auditor General said that the government pays through mark-up T-bills. The Chief Justice inquired how and why the government is giving itself a markup. So Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman told the court that the markup is given on the money that the government uses.
Later, the Supreme Court adjourned the hearing of the dams funds case till Friday.
