The Islamabad High court (IHC) may revive the project "Establishment of Data Center and Archiving Section" at the cost higher than what it was initiated with. According to documents available with Business Recorder, IHC Chief Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi asked for the same project to be started at the beginning of the next financial year with an obligation for the undersigned principal accounting officer to maintain financial discipline.
The project was initiated to preserve the judicial record, legal documents, judgements and case management. Islamabad High Court (IHC) scrapped the project worth the cost of Rs 38 million. The project was conceived in May 2014 and the full amount was disbursed under the Access to Justice Programme (AJP) to a private vendor. At the time the project was scrapped. Rs 4 million was already spent on advertising tender notices and printing of related material.
On April 1 and 4, 2016 IHC Committee on Information Technology headed by Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi invited bids for supply and installation of the items for establishment of Data Center at IHC through tender. The project was cancelled a little over a month later in the second week of June as the IHC administration had some reservations over the bank guarantee which led to IHC Chief Justice Kasi decision to scrap the project, sources in the IHC said.
Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi, the senior most judge of the IHC, expressed his reservations at the scrapping of the project in a letter to the Chief Justice, and suggested that instead of abandoning the project, the matter be placed before an Administrative Committee. It may be mentioned that the representatives of lawyers bodies of the federal capital has expressed concern over the scrapping of the said project.
A joint committee of lawyers' bodies led by Mohammad Shoaib Shaheen, the chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council legal education committee - and including Islamabad Bar Council (IBC) Vice Chairman Qazi Rafiuddin Babar, IBC member Syed Wajid Ali Gillani, IHC Bar Association Secretary General Mohammad Waqas Malik and District Bar Association President Syed Mohammad Tayyab -met with IHC Chief Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi and senior puisne judge Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi following the scrapping of Data Center project.
Talking to Business Recorder, Shaheen said that though the IHC CJ Kasi has assured of reviving of the project but it would cost much more than the estimated cost of Rs 38 million. Rupees four million have already been wasted and in case the project is revived it is not sure whether the Access to Justice programme would agree to provide funding, he said, adding that IHC administration would require to invite fresh bids from the contractors and after a lapse of several months, it is impossible for any contractor to offer the same rate, for establishment of Data Center, as what they had offered in the past.
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