Down payment deposited by BTLK: Sindh government seeks early hearing of petition

The Sindh government has filed an application for early hearing of its petition seeking to transfer down payment already deposited by Bahria Town (Pvt) Limited Karachi (BTLK) to its provincial account.

The chief secretary Sindh on Saturday filed a civil miscellaneous application (CMA) in Supreme Court requesting it to hear and decide the matter on an urgent basis on its merits. "Treat this matter as urgent motion and may kindly be fixed before the court for hearing of the main petition in the next week commencing December 16." "The unnecessarily delay of hearing of the appeal will cause serious injury and irreparable financial loss to the general public of the province," said the CMA.

It stated that so far the Sindh government against the budget estimate of Rs 605.6 billion has only received Rs 493 billion by June 30, 2019 reflecting a shortfall of Rs 112 billion against budget estimates and a shortfall of Rs 74.99 billion against revised estimate of Rs 508 billion against the federal revenue assignment from the Divisible Pool.

The government of Sindh had only received Rs 9.9 billion from the federal government against the allocated amount of Rs 14.266 billion under PSDP 2018-19. This shortfall in the provincial revenue jeopardized development projects that have already been initiated as well as those which are at various stages of completion.

He stated that the down payment already deposited by BTLK in the account established by the apex court be transferred to the provincial account No. 1 of the Sindh government. All future payments to be made by BTLK to the Sindh government, including the shortfall in the down payment which is to be made up by BTLK on or before 27-08-2019, also be transferred upon receipt in the account established by the apex court to the Sindh government's Account No. 1.

The Sindh government on August 30, 2019 had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking Rs 25 billion deposited by Bahria Town for "illegally" acquiring land in Karachi.

The Supreme Court on 21-03-2019 accepted BTLK's offer of Rs 460 billion for its Karachi Super Highway Project land, and restrained National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from filing references against it.

The apex court had granted seven years commencing 01-09-2019 to 31-08-2026 for the payment of entire amount into the Supreme Court. The mode of payment is contained in para 3(b)(2) of the said order.

In its petition, the Sindh government stated that the province is currently facing a budget deficit. It said that during the last fiscal year, the federation only issued Rs 9 billion out of Rs 14 billion to the province in the Public Sector Development Programme.

The provincial government stated that the ongoing development projects are feared to be delayed because of the financial problems facing the province.

It requested the court to hand it over the money deposited by Bahria Town given the current economic situation of the province. It stated any future payments by the real estate giant to the Sindh government be also transferred to its provincial account.

The federal government had also approached the top court in August with the prayer that the entire money deposited by Bahria Town Karachi Limited and held by the Court may be ordered to be deposited in the Public Account of the federal government.

As per the provision of Article 78(2)(b) of Constitution, any money received by or deposited in Supreme Court is liable to be credited to the public account of the federation, stated the federation's petition.