SC issues detailed judgment in SCA illegal appointments case

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC), headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim, disposed a suo motu case regarding massive corruption in the Sindh Coal Authority (SCA) and declared that without a functional board, the provincial energy department was dysfunctional.

The court ordered Chief Secretary Sindh to conduct an inquiry and submit a report within two months while raising serious concerns over projects worth Rs105 billion which were initiated by SCA and the Sindh Special Initiative Department (SID).

The bench directed that an inquiry be conducted by the Sindh Chief Secretary with regard to all the projects or schemes that were undertaken by the SCA and the SID, in line with the observations made in the SC judgment.

The chief secretary has two months to submit his proposed report to the SC. Further orders would be passed on the basis of that report, said the SC ruling.

"We are also at a complete loss to understand how a newly- created department, which has no designated business or functions under the Rules of Business (RoB), has no expertise, capacity or experience will be able to undertake these multifarious projects and schemes," Justice Qazi Faez Isa said in a 19-page judgment.

According to the court, without a functional board, SCA was dysfunctional and could only implement and execute such projects and schemes which are mentioned in the Sindh Coal Authority Act.

The SC bench held that a project cannot by executed by the SCA just by adding the prefix `coal' to its name, explaining that the content must be relevant under the governing act.

"In the absence of a functioning board where all decisions were taken without the authorisation of the board, the DG and Energy Secretary become all the more responsible and accountable. A parallel system of government or a government within the government is not envisaged by the constitution and the RoB made thereunder," said the court's verdict.

The court ordered that the projects and schemes which had been or being implemented or executed by the SCA, and were not in respect of exploration, development, processing, mining or utilising of coal in Sindh, be immediately transferred to the concerned government departments in terms of Schedule II of the Sindh government's RoB.

The top court bench asserted that the projects and schemes which had been transferred pursuant to its direction were to be examined, inspected and photographed by the department to which they had been transferred.

Similarly, the court added, all wrongdoings and deficiencies therein should be brought to the notice of the Sindh chief secretary, who shall incorporate the same in his report, which will be submitted to the apex court within two months.

Former chief justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali had taken a suo motu notice of the Sindh Coal Authority Corruption case in 2016 on the basis of an anonymous letter written to Justice Amir Hani Muslim. The letter detailed corrupt elements working on deputation in the provincial energy department.