Qasmi as PTV chairman: SC says hasn’t found any proof of corruption, nepotism

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court found no proof of corruption and nepotism regarding the appointment of Ata ul Haq Qasmi as director and chairman of Pakistan Television Corporation.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, on Thursday, accepted the review petitions of former chairman Pakistan Television Ata ul Haq Qasmi, former finance minister Ishaq Dar, ex-information minister Pervaiz Rashid, and former secretary to the PM Fawad Hasan Fawad.

Former chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar on November 8, 2018, in a judgment directed Ata ul Haq Qasmi, Ishaq Dar, Pervaiz Rashid, and Fawad Hassan, former secretary to ex-PM Nawaz Sharif to pay Rs197 million in two months as huge loss was caused to PTV in Qasmi’s appointment as chairman.

The bench, after hearing the arguments of the counsels, noted that there was no proof of corruption and nepotism against the accused, and there was also no evidence of loss worth Rs197 million, thus, the decision for the recovery from the respondents was not legal. The court also found the order unlawful regarding a ban on the appointment of Ata ul Haq Qasmi as director in future.

Earlier, the counsel representing Qasmi argued that his client’s case does not fall under the mandate of Article 184(3) of the Constitution. He said that his client has been associated with poetry and literature for the last 50 years. He submitted that the PTV lawyer has admitted that the assessment of the said loss was not correct.

Fawad Hassan Fawad said that the observations of the court about him in the judgment were against the facts.

The SC judgment, authored by ex-CJP Saqib Nisar had also said Ata ul Haq Qasmi would pay 50 per cent, Ishaq Dar 20 per cent, Pervaiz Rashid 20 per cent, and Fawad Hasan Fawad 10 per cent of Rs197,867,491. The court declared that Qasmi’s appointment as a director and the chairman of PTV was illegal and without any lawful effect. The payment of salary and the benefits/allowances to him was unlawful and unauthorised. He was not entitled to such payments and cannot retain the same. On account of lack of fiduciary behaviour, Qasmi is declared to be ineligible to be appointed as a director of any company from the date of this judgment onwards. The administrative actions taken by Qasmi are beyond the scope of duties of a chairman, therefore, all such orders passed by him during his tenure are declared to be illegal and void ab initio. The court noticed that the illegal appointment of Qasmi as a director and the chairman of PTV was undertaken in a systematic and methodical manner, beginning from the special exemption from the upper age limit of 65 years for the appointment of heads of autonomous bodies under the Ministry of Information Broadcasting and National Heritage (MOIBNH) to the summary for Qasmi’s appointment.

The judgment had said that Pervaiz Rashid did not have power or authority to decide and propose on his own, the name of any particular individual [Qasmi] for the post in question. No advertisement was made, no criteria were laid down and no qualifications were taken into account.

The judgment had also noted the approvals from the PM’s office were all issued and signed by Fawad Hasan Fawad. He also conceded that in this particular case, the PM never made any noting on the file.

The Court found that Fawad failed in his duty, as a civil servant, to act responsibly and with due diligence as he did not question the summary(ies) placed before the PM and instead went ahead and sought approval as a matter of routine.

The role of Ishaq Dar, the finance minister, in the assessment and calculation of the salary package of Qasmi is motivated. The judgment had said that he was provided an opportunity to justify his position and on 3.7.2018 issued notice after which he was given various opportunities to appear before the Court vide orders dated 9.7.2018 and 12.07.2018.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024