22 February 2005	Tuesday	12 Muharram 1426

ISLAMABAD, Feb 21: The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, on Monday sacked Supreme Court Registrar M.A. Farooqi on charges of corruption and misappropriation of funds.

"The respondent is found guilty of corruption, gross misconduct and therefore major penalty of compulsory retirement from service with immediate effect is imposed upon him," said a six-page order of the Chief Justice available with Dawn.

"I will file an appeal under Rule 11 of the Supreme Court of Pakistan Rules 1980," M.A. Farooqi told Dawn when contacted. Mr Farooqi, who would reach the age of super annuation on Jan 2006, said that he would appear before the court in person to plead his innocence, adding that previous registrars of this court had also done the same.

Meanwhile, the chief justice has appointed Additional Registrar Budha Khan to assume duties of the registrar till further orders. Farooqi, accused of misappropriating Rs20 million received by the court as fees in different cases, would not be entitled to draw pension till he paid the interest to be calculated later.

He has already returned Rs10.5 million, which according to the order, was kept and utilized by him for personal gain. The Chief Justice also directed the Supreme Court office to calculate the interest, which the respondent would be required to deposit in the government treasury.

The compulsory retirement came in the light of an audit report ordered by the chief justice on the accounts of the court between 2001-04. The auditors were dissatisfied with the respondent's handling of the bank accounts, the order said, adding that it was not clear what was the purpose of having so many accounts, operated simultaneously.

Probably, it was done to camouflage the record to avoid analysis of the matter at a glance, it said. In the case of Hubco versus Wapda, alone, the respondent withdrew Rs10.3 million in intervals from the accounts.

"Role of the registrar with regard to moneys received by him under the orders of the court is that of the holder of a fiduciary office, the manager of the trust. One of the underlying principles of fiduciary (trust) laws is that a person in a fiduciary position is not entitled to make profits for himself," the order clarified.

Since the withdrawal of huge amount by respondent from the Supreme Court account had become known to different quarters, he had no alternative but to disclose it by returning it. There was a large scope for illegalities, irregularities, whimsical and arbitrary dealings and only a few could be detected during the audit.

It said, scrutiny of the circumstances reveal that the entire handling of the amount was not a case of human error, but a deliberate attempt. The respondent also took contradictory stand during the hearing as on the one hand, he vehemently argued that he was legally entitled to withdraw the amount and on the other he termed it 'human-error.' Both could not go together, the order said.

Earlier, copies of the complaint regarding misappropriation, when received by the court were also forwarded to the Auditor-General of Pakistan, Chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and director-general of audit.