ISLAMABAD: As the Supreme Court commences from Dec 2 hearing to decide who will head a high-powered commission to oversee disbursement of funds being deposited by Bahria Town Limited Karachi (BTLK), Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan has requested the court to allow him to be represented by some nominee of his office in the commission.

A three-judge SC bench consisting of Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Muneeb Akhtar will take up on Wednesday the matter of appointment of the head of the commission being constituted to oversee utilisation of the BTLK funds for development and welfare of the people of Sindh.

On Oct 26, a Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Faisal Arab, Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan and Justice Muneeb Akhtar had disposed of a set of applications moved by BTLK as well as the federal and Sindh governments. In its order, the bench had suggested the name of the attorney general as the third member of the commission and that of the advocate general for Sindh as the fourth member.

AG moves court, wants to be represented by nominee in the high-powered commission

Now AG Khan has moved an application with a suggestion that the court order should be altered in such a way that instead of him his office be represented in the commission by any law officer nominated by him. Likewise, the office of the Sindh advocate general should be represented by any of his nominees.

In its Oct 26 judgement, the Supreme Court had held that the commission’s chairman would be nominated by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed on the recommendation of the implementation bench. According to the order, the commission’s chairman should either be a retired judge of the Supreme Court hailing from and permanently residing in Sindh, but if not available for any reason should be an eminent citizen, or a holder of a public office from the province.

Based on ground realities, Justice Faisal Arab, who retired on Nov 4, emerges as the strongest candidate for the post as he is a permanent resident of Karachi and also knows the facts of the entire case.

After finalisation of its head and members, the commission will recommend selection of the projects and their cost and all financial matters directly, indirectly or by implication relating to the projects but subject to approval of the implementation bench of the apex court.

On March 21, 2019, the Supreme Court had accepted Bahria Town’s offer to pay Rs460 billion as settlement dues for 16,896 acres of land it had acquired for its housing project in Karachi.

The offer was accepted by the court to implement its May 4, 2018 judgement in which it was held that the grant of land to the Malir Development Authority by the Sindh government, its exchange with the land of Bahria Town and anything done under the provisions of Colonisation of Government Land Act 1912 by the provincial government were illegal and of no legal existence.

Till date BTLK has deposited Rs52.6bn and as per the court order the instalments being deposited by the developer were invested in T-Bills through National Bank of Pakistan. An amount of Rs5.4bn has been earned by way of profit/mark-up till June 29 this year.

In the commission, one person will be nominated by the Sindh governor and another by the chief minister as its members subject to confirmation by the SC implementation bench being eminent citizen who does not hold any public office and does not have any known political affiliation.

Similarly, one woman to be recommended by the commission in its first meeting will also be a member, whereas non-voting members will consist of the Sindh chief secretary, finance secretary, senior member of the Board of Revenue Sindh as well as the Auditor General Sindh, Accountant General of Pakistan and a nominee of the State Bank of Pakistan governor not below the rank of deputy governor.

The commission will propose and suggest projects for public utility, including but not limited to, health, education, infrastructure, for the people of Sindh, while the implementation bench will consider and approve the projects from time to time and allocate funds as per requirements, the court order said.

Once approved by the implementation bench, the commission will start the process of awarding contracts and other related matters for implementation of the projects. The commission will also have the power to approve and disburse periodical payments in accordance with the terms of the contracts, and for each project awarded, the commission will establish an appropriate oversight committee to be headed by a voting member and include persons as the commission deems appropriate.

Each oversight committee will regularly report to the commission regarding the projects being overseen by it in terms of such SOPs (standard operating procedures) as established for this purpose and more than one project may be entrusted to an oversight committee, the order explained. Each committee will be responsible for ensuring due completion of the projects and will be subject to regular audit in terms of the SOPs.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2020