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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court nominated on Wednesday its former judge to head a one-man commission to investigate allegations of a Rs68 billion loss caused to the national exchequer because of delays in the commissioning of two rental power projects — 425MW combined cycle power plant in Nandipur, Gujranwala, and 595MW Chichunki Malian power project.
Justice (retd) Rehmat Hussain Jafferi will look into the allegations levelled by PML-N legislator Khwaja Asif before a two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain which had taken up a case alleging corruption in the purchase of rental power projects.
Had the projects been functioning, loadshedding would have reduced considerably, Khwaja Asif said, adding that machinery meant for the Nandipur project had been rusting at the Karachi port since April 10 last year.
In 2009, the federal government approved RPPs to generate 1,206MW of electricity to tide over electricity shortfall. But the project became controversial after Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat, a vociferous opponent of the government’s power policy, came up with serious charges of corruption.
Currently only two or three of 14 RPPs are functioning because of the government’s lack of interest in pursuing them as well as refund of advance mobilisation funds along with mark-up by different RPPs on the instructions of the Supreme Court for their failure to import machinery and generate electricity.
The apex court directed the commission to submit its finding in a month and allowed it to seek assistance of any expert it deemed fit. The ministries of law, finance and water and power are required to facilitate the working of the commission.
The court observed that the delay in making the projects functional in time was caused by red-tapism that prima facie indicated intentional negligence on the part of the authorities concerned.
It said the two projects had been approved in March, but their files had been kept pending for five months. If implemented in April, these could have added a considerable amount of electricity to the national grid.
The court hinted at referring the matter to the National Accountability Bureau for investigation.
Housing Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat assured the court that he would continue to peruse the RPP matter in his personal capacity. He said he would contest the matter on moral grounds and that he was aware of legal consequences of pursuing the issue as a member of the cabinet. Advocate Shahid Hamid, the counsel for Walters Powers International, said that being a federal minister Mr Hayat’s contention would be like attacking decisions of the cabinet. “Being a member of the cabinet, he is also part of the same policies.”
The court asked Mr Hayat to reconsider his position because a minister had to lose his portfolio in a Haj corruption case.
Mr Hayat said it was his sixth term in parliament and was aware of policies more than anyone else. Besides, everyone is equal before the court.
Khwaja Asif said he would like to submit written arguments if the court wanted to wrap up the matter because he could not appear on Friday. The chief justice said the court decided cases and the term ‘wrap up’ had been used by someone else.
“God willing, now there will be no wrap ups and the system would continue to function,” the chief justice observed.
