Repayment of dues will not guarantee safe exit: CJ

Defence counsel tries to deflect blame from the federal cabinet.

ISLAMABAD:

The chief justice clarified on Tuesday that repayment of outstanding dues will not ward off penalties for those responsible for anomalies in Rental Power Projects (RPPs) after the defence counsel conceded that the scheme should be shelved if government funds had been squandered.

Counsel for ministry of water and power, Tariq Rahim told a division bench headed by Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry that RPPs were approved by the previous cabinet. “Even if the federal cabinet had approved the project, there is evidence of criminal negligence,” the CJ remarked.

He said the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) report on RPPs had recommended the government devise a policy mechanism and remove anomalies. He expressed disbelief over the fact that the water and power ministry awarded contracts to RPPs despite the cabinet’s endorsement of ADB’s suggestions. The CJ said the persons responsible for the failure of RPPs should be identified instead of singling out former minister for water and power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.

“The absence of a result-oriented government policy has complicated the issue.” He asked why the government had disbursed payments to RPPs before their completion. “The national grid is receiving only 100 megawatts of electricity after spending billions of rupees.” At present there are only eight RPPs instead of 18, he added.

The counsel had earlier informed the court that the finance ministry had approved RPPs and allocated funds for the project in May 2008. However, funds were withheld in December later that year.

Explaining the delay in power generation by rental power companies, the attorney said furnace oil was initially priced at Rs24,000 per ton but within a year it touched Rs65,000 per tonne. The CJ grilled the counsel for making baseless formulations. He said the hearing would be completed till Friday. The case was adjourned till November 16.

The court is hearing a suo motu and two identical petitions filed by federal minister Faisal Saleh Hayat and PML-N leader Khawaja Muhammad Asif against the award of contracts to RPPs.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2011.