SC adjourns coronavirus suo moto notice case for two weeks

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned hearing of the suo moto action regarding combating the pandemic of coronavirus (COVID-19).

A five-member larger bench of the court headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Mazhat Alam Khan Miankhel heard the case.

During the course of proceedings, the court expressed concern over non-submission of complete documents of machinery imported by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

The chief justice said that the court in its last three orders had asked the NDMA to produce documents of machinery imported from China but it had not yet submitted the documents of the machinery imported from China for Al-Hafeez company.

Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan asked NDMA to inform that which banking channel was used to import machinery from China.

How much duty was paid for machinery imported from China, he asked. The NDMA representative said that the NDMA did not import machinery from China.

The chief justice said that it was unknown that who owned Al-Hafeez Company.

He observed that the report submitted by NDMA mentioned General Cargo in its report. Commissioner duty had its own tariff, he added. The chief justice asked where were the documents of income tax, sales tax of machinery imported from China? The NDMA representative explained that Rs. 323,000 duties were paid.

The chief justice said that it was a matter of law enforcement.

He asked where were the documents allowing the import of Al-Hafeez company's machinery? Justice Ijaz asked where were the details of chartering the plane and its payments? The Director Admin NDMA said that Al-Hafeez Company's machinery was not imported by NDMA.

The chief justice observed that NDMA did not take the court orders seriously.

He asked why not initiate contempt of court action against NDMA as court orders were ridiculed.

He said that the court would not allow anyone to misuse a single penny.

He said that Rs. 17.25 million were paid to a person whom could not be paid.

He observed that Customs duty was also paid in cash.

The chief justice said that the Chinese company which sent the goods would also had been paid in cash because its name was written in the report.

He observed that someone was definitely messing with the court as something was trying to hide from the court.

The chief justice said that the NDMA imported the vaccine with the permission of Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) but it was not disclosed who imported it.

He asked the Attorney General where were the vaccine import documents? The chief justice said that the institutions of the country should run in a transparent manner.

Cash was paid to a company that had nothing to do with it, he added. He said it seemed that the Pakistani embassy in China had paid cash to China.

Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan said that the NDMA was given free hand and huge funds to fight coronavirus.

The NDMA was accountable to the court and the people, he added. The chief justice said that the NDMA was importing planes and machinery to fight locust attack.

The Attorney General requested the withdrawal of the NDMA's submitted reply.

He said that the comprehensive reply would be submitted along with documents.

The court also sought all details of Al-Hafeez Company from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).

The court returned the NDMA reply to the member admin and sought a comprehensive reply with all details.

The chief justice asked how did DRAP allow the import of unregistered drugs? The chairman DRAP responded that the authority could allow the import of drugs and machinery in emergency situations.

The chief justice asked which hospital had demanded machinery and medicine? He asked which medicine was imported from China.

The chairman DRAP said that import of medicines from India was banned and raw materials were coming from India.

The chief justice said that medicines imported from India were illegal.

The Attorney General confirmed that the cabinet allowed a few medicines but many medicines were imported from India.

He said that Shahzad Akbar submitted a report and stated that permission was misused.

The chief justice said that no medicine could be imported without the connivance of DRAP.

He observed that counterfeit drugs were being found under DRAP's umbrella.

He said that there should be death penalty for manufacturers and sellers of counterfeit drugs. In Pakistan, the maximum sentence was two weeks, he added. He said that the seller of counterfeit medicine was liable to a maximum fine of Rs. 10,000.

Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan addressing the chairman DRAP said that the authority was not doing its work.

The court ruled that DRAP's report was unsatisfactory.

The court asked the DRAP to submit details about the imported medicines.

The court also grilled the Additional Secretary Health. Justice Ijaz said that the Secretary Health had put the whole burden on the provinces.

He said that the Health Department's job was not just to write letters.

The court directed the Secretary Health to appear before court on next date of hearing with a concise report about drug price.

Discussing the report submitted by the Punjab government, the Chief Justice asked how many luxury vehicles was the Punjab government buying? He said that the Punjab government did not inform which luxury vehicles of worth Rs. 500 million would be imported.

The Advocate General Punjab responded that the provincial government was not importing any vehicles.

Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan said that at the previous hearing, the Punjab government had stated that it was not importing vehicles.

He asked if development funds were not being released because of coronavirus, then how were these vehicles being bought.

The Chief Justice asked how many cars were purchased last year? The Advocate General said that he had no information yet about purchase of vehicles during the last year.

Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan said that the court had already issued orders over purchase of BMW, Prado and other luxury vehicles and now the Punjab government was again buying Rs. 500 million vehicles.

The chief justice observed that vehicles were being purchased with loans from donors.

He said that officers stated that they had to visit fields, so they needed luxury vehicles.

Discussing the Civil Aviation Authority's matter, the chief justice observed that fake license scandal became famous all over the world.

He asked was there any action taken against any officer of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)? The DG CAA said that reforms were being introduced in the civil aviation.

The chief justice responded that the court did not see reforms anywhere.

Addressing the DG CAA, the chief justice said that he was not eligible to the post.

It was shameful that fake licenses were issued to the pilots, he added. He said that the CAA had put the lives of the people at stake.

He observed that the CAA did not take action against any of the officers.

He said that the perpetrators of heinous crimes were easily drawing salaries.

The DG CAA said that according to the forensic audit, 262 licenses were fake.

He said that the Authority had revoked 28 licenses and initiated action against 189.

Forensic audits were conducted by third parties from 2010 to 2018, he added. Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan said that the court had ordered verification of licences in 2018.

The chief justice asked the DG CAA to dismiss all officers who issued fake licenses.

Those who signed fake licenses would go to jail, he added. He said that the matter would be referred to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) with the government's approval.

Justice Bandial asked what action was taken over illegal access to computers.

He said that the plane accident happened in May and so far, only letters were being exchanged.

He observed that the Karachi plane crash pilot's license was issued in 1990.

He asked DG CAA what to do with a license issued before 2010? Now was the time for immediate action, he added.

He said that the pilot of the unfortunate plane was talking about coronavirus leaving the responsibility of three hundred people.

Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan observed that pilots were so influential that no action was being taken due to political interference.

The Civil Aviation had brought the country into disrepute all over the world.

The chief justice asked the DG CAA to verify all licenses issued from 1947 to date.

The DG CAA said that computerized data started in 2010 so it was audited from there.

He said that the PIA had 31 aircraft and 450 pilots.

175 Pakistani pilots were working in ten airlines of the world, he added. MD PIA Arshad Mahmood Malik appeared in the court and stated that 750 employees with fake degrees had been fired.

Those involved in the recruitment had also been terminated, he added. The chief justice said that the people had stopped traveling on PIA.

The MD PIA said that there were 141 fake licensed pilots in PIA.

Justice Ijaz asked why did PIA need 450 pilots? Arshad Malik said that the management had 15 pilots with fake degrees.

He said that he could only suspend the pilots while the CAA could fire them from service.

He said that the management was planning to terminate 50 percent employees of the airline.

The chief justice said that the management would not be allowed to sell any of PIA's assets.

Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan said that no PIA assets, including the Roosevelt Hotel, could be sold without the permission of the court.

The chief justice said that a wedding hall was still built on the PIA plot in Gulshan-e-Jinnah Karachi.

Failure to demolish the marriage hall would result in contempt of the court proceedings, he added. Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan discussing the issue of clean water stated that the clean water company had spent Rs. 4 billion.

Billions of rupees worth of luxury cars were bought instead of providing clean water, he added. He said that the vehicles were returned to the government over the court orders.

The court observed that the Punjab government had allocated Rs. 468 million for the purchase of vehicles.

He said that the court was informed that allocating the stated funds did not necessarily mean that the vehicles would be purchased.

The court sought details of vehicles available to the provincial government and state owned companies.

The court also sought details of vehicles purchased with money provided by donor agencies.

The court restrained the Punjab government from using the funds allocated for vehicles in the budget.

The Sindh government asked for time to submit a detailed report.

The court gave two weeks time to the Sindh government for submission of detailed report.

The court also sought reply from Balochistan government in two weeks.