ISLAMABAD  -  The Supreme Court of Pakistan Thursday issued written order regarding hearing dated October 9 related to Diamer Bhasha and Mohmand dams’ funds.  The order was authored by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qaze Faez Isa.  The court directed that the amount of the dam funds be transferred to the Public Account of the Federation and after this the accounts maintained in the name of ‘The Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of Pakistan Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dams Fund’ should be closed.  It said that a sub-account in the Public Account of the Federation be created or other appropriate measure be taken to enable the said amount to be lent to the best rated private scheduled banks so that mark-up can be earned thereon and when any amount is required for the construction of the said dams the amount collected and mark-up accrued thereon should be so utilized.

The order said, “As regards the Implementation Bench we were informed that vide order dated 9 January 2019 five Judges of the Supreme Court were designated as the Implementation Bench, namely, Justice Sh. Azmat Saeed, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Faisal Arab, Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar. The Implementation Bench was constituted by a Bench of this Court comprising of the then Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Faisal Arab, Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan and Justice Munib Akhtar.

However, the record does not show that the Implementation Bench (constituted on 9 January 2019) undertook any work or that the progress reports submitted by WAPDA were ever examined by it.”

The court said, “If the Implementation Bench did not examine the progress reports then their submission is pointless. Moreover, except for one, all the Hon’ble Judges of the Implementation Bench have since retired and were not replaced by this Court. WAPDA’s counsel also stated that preparation of progress reports consumes time, money and effort.

The filing of the progress reports without the same being examined by the Implementation Bench served no purpose. And, now there is also no Implementation Bench as four of its members have retired/resigned. Therefore, unless specifically directed, WAPDA need not submit further progress reports in this Court.”

The listed applications and all other connected applications and petitions are disposed of, the order concluded.