Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar on Saturday sought a complete record of the LDA-City project along with relevant rules which allowed the authority to launch a project under public-private partnership. The bench issued notices to six private companies/developers engaged in the project for March 08.
The bench also called service profile of former director general LDA Ahad Cheema when the chief secretary, on bench's query, disclosed that Cheema was now head of Quaid-i-Azam Thermal Power Company and had been recently promoted to BS-20. He said Cheema had been receiving around Rs 125000 as public servant while getting nearly Rs 1.4 million from the public sector company's employment.
Coming back to the point of the housing scheme, the chief justice observed that there were complaints that the land for the LDA-City had been acquired from citizens under coercion.
Had the NAB not taken notice of the complaints against the LDA-City scheme, the Supreme Court might have taken the action, the chief justice observed saying the affairs of the project appeared to be shady. LDA Director General Zahid Akhtar Zaman was explaining the details of LDA-City Housing Scheme, which was initially approved during the stint of Cheema. However, Zaman denied having received any such complaint during his tenure as the director general of the authority.
The chief justice interrupted the LDA director general and asked him, "Where is Cheema now-a-days?" "He is in custody of the NAB," Zahid responded. The chief justice ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) not to cause any harassment to anyone and also directed the bureaucrats of Punjab province in particular to extend their cooperation with the anti-corruption watchdog whenever needed and do not resort to protests or strikes.
The chief justice also took exception to a recent resolution passed by the Punjab Assembly against the NAB in the wake of arrest of Ahad Cheema. "Tell your political bosses to get another resolution passed against the Supreme Court as it summons you (bureaucrats)," CJP Nisar asked Punjab Chief Secretary Zahid Saeed who appeared before a three-judge special bench to represent the provincial government in multiple suo motu cases.
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