Shershah bridge collapse case: PAC summons ex-chairman of NHA, secretary communication

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday summoned former Chairman of NHA, Farrukh Javed along with secretary communication for their alleged involvement in Karachi's Shershah bridge collapse case. The committee, which met with Chaudhry Nisar Ali in the chair expressed dismay over the delay by secretary communication Sharif Ahmed for fixing responsibility in Shershah bridge collapse case and recovering the amount.
"After seeing the mess around your ministry, I don't know how you run the ministry," Nisar questioned the secretary communication. Earlier, NHA Chairman Chaudhry Altaf informed the committee that despite alignment the said bridge was found faulty, the go-ahead signal was given by former President Pervez Musharraf. He further alleged that the responsibility falls on the shoulders of the consultant firm, but no action has so far been taken against it. "The case was sent to Engineering Council of Pakistan three years ago, but the council has yet to blacklist the consultant firm," the NHA chairman added.
Seeming not convincing that it was the fault of the consultant, auditor general questioned about the oversight mechanism of ministry regarding Shershah Project. Even committee showed dissatisfaction on the reply of ministry of communication.
Secretary Ministry of Communication, Sharif Ahmed informed the committee, as Prime Minister inspection cell held the inquiry so there was no need to conduct an internal probe by the ministry of communication into the matter. Sharif further informed the committee that the ministry had so far failed in recovering Rs 290 million from the contractor responsible for Shershah Bridge collapse.
The committee showing utter displeasure over the poor performance of handling the case and issued fresh directive to summon former NHA chairman, former secretary communication, consultant of bridge, head of design department, project manager and special invitation was sent to chairman Pakistan Engineering Council in next meeting. While reviewing the audit of the Federal Board of Revenue, FBR Chairman Sohail Ahmed disclosed that estimated Rs 20 billion revenue was recoverable from corporate sector companies, which are currently in litigation.
The PAC suggested the FBR to establish a task force to expedite the court cases related to corporate sector and committee would assist the board in this regard. "We will talk to Prime Minister, Chief Justices of SC and High Courts and even attorney generals of federal and provincial governments for expediting the court cases of FBR," he said. The FBR Chairman replied that registrar of Supreme Court assured the board that the matter would be taken in the meeting of National Judicial Commission for allowing the constitution of special benches for hearing corporate cases.
The committee also discussed the audit paras of the Ministry of Defence regarding unauthorised utility of A-1 cantonment land for commercial purposes and directed to review the 2008 policy of utilisation of funds in welfare of armed forces personnel. Foreign observers, representatives of civil societies and TV anchors were invited as special guests.