The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to approve Chairman National Accountability Bureau''s proposal to reutilize the existing machinery of Rental Power Plants (RPPs) through a transparent bidding process with a view to addressing the prevailing energy crisis in the country.
A three-member bench led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry expressed dismay over non-implementation of court verdict on March 30 that had rescinded all the RPP contracts by declaring them illegal and non-transparent and asked the Chairman NAB to proceed against all persons, including former Minister for water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf, and others.
In its maiden fortnightly progress report pertaining to the implementation of court''s verdict in the RPP case, NAB Chief Fasih Bokhari sought approval of the apex court to his suggestion that the government should re-bid all rental power plants for power generation in Pakistan. The Chief Justice questioned the authority of Chairman NAB for seeking the court''s approval to request the government to formulate a new policy by following a flawless and transparent procedure under which the existing generators/equipments and machinery could be utilised to generate electricity.
After going through the report, the bench decided to hear the case in a open court and fixed the matter in supplementary cause list where NAB Chief Fasih Bokhari was summoned. The NAB chief waited there all day for his turn. He was called by the court assistant to appear before the bench during one of the last hearings of the day.
Admonishing the NAB authorities, the CJP said: "Not a single step has been taken by the NAB to implement the court verdict so far - the person involved in the scam was given the portfolio of a minister". During the course of hearing, Prosecutor General NAB KK Agha apprised the bench that the NAB was delivering under the rules of due process of law. He added that Federal Interior Ministry had been requested to put the names of all those involved in the RPP award of contracts on Exit Control List.
Chief Justice Chaudhry responded: "We are not asking anybody to go beyond the law - if there is corrupt practice the Supreme Court has constitutional power to intervene in the matter - after hearing, everybody the apex court has given its judgement in the RPP case -time to recover the plundered money". Agha further informed the bench that State Bank of Pakistan was also approached to freeze the account of all the concerned individuals and companies connected to the controversing RPPs.
"The Court has almost completed investigation of the case and now it was NAB''s primary responsibility to implement court''s verdict so that looted wealth of the national kitty can be recovered - but no single arrest has been made so far", the Chief Justice observed. Justice Khilji Arif Hussain maintained: "Public money has been misappropriated in RPP contracts and the NAB is supposed to just implement the verdict of the apex court."
The Chief Justice stated that the bench was not satisfied with NAB''s progress in the matter so far. "We are giving you seven days to implement ''a'' to ''z'' of the judgement in the RPP case so you should arrest the persons involved in the case and submit their challans in the court of law," the CJP maintained. Later, the bench directed the NAB authorities to speed up the implementation of the RPP verdict of the apex court in letter and in spirit and continue to file fortnightly reports in the registrar''s office for perusal of judges.