ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought assistance from the federal government and Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) to determine whether funds collected through public donations for the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams could be kept in private banks to earn markup.

A three-judge SC bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, sought assistance after it was informed that no markup could be earned if the dam funds, generated through public donations, were deposited in public accounts.

At the last hearing on Sept 11, the Supreme Court questioned whether it should continue supervising the accounts opened under a 2018 order.

The court was hearing an application jointly filed by the federal government and Wapda, requesting that the amounts collected by the Supreme Court under the Prime Minister’s Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dams Fund, currently maintained by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), be transferred to official Wapda accounts maintained by the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).

Audit official tells apex court he has never encountered such a situation before

The application argued that the government and Wapda, as the executing agency for the hydropower project, should have sole control over the funds designated for dam construction.

The court was informed that, as of Oct 4, 2024, the dam funds had grown to Rs23bn, with Rs11bn in donations and over Rs12bn in markup, as per the SBP’s legal adviser.

When the CJP inquired about the source of the markup, the additional auditor general said the government pays the markup through treasury bills (T-bills).

When CJP questioned why the government was itself paying the markup, Additional Attorney General Chaudhry Aamir Rahman explained that the markup is paid on funds utilised by the government.

The additional auditor general explained to the Supreme Court that it cannot retain dam funds itself, adding that if the funds are transferred to a public account, no markup can be earned.

At this, the CJP asked whether the funds from a public account could be kept in private banks to earn markup. The additional auditor general replied that, in his 37 years of service, he had never encountered such a situation.

He said the then-prime minister had opened the SC dam fund account under a court order, and the SC registrar has since managed the funds. He also confirmed that inquiries had revealed no irregularities in the handling of the dam funds or the markup.

Former attorney general Khalid Jawed Khan, who was requested to assist the court, said the dam funds should be used solely for dam construction and not by the government for other purposes. He added that when the case began, the scope of Article 184(3) was extended across the country.

When he mentioned a report about a province purchasing vehicles worth billions of rupees, the CJP observed that “we will not allow the counsel to read the newspapers or mention it”, adding that he had always maintained that judicial decisions should not take precedence over the Constitution and the law.

When the former AG noted that a lot is being published in newspapers these days, CJP Isa observed that the court will neither allow newspapers to be read in court nor consider them in proceedings. The CJP emphasised that counsel should assist the court under the Constitution, rather than engaging in political discussions.

When the CJP pointed out that the title of the account was not appropriate, Khalid Jawed said he had no objection to changing the name of the funds account.

Barrister Saad Rasool, representing Wapda, informed the court that the authority had submitted 19 implementation reports from 2018 to date.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2024