ISLAMABAD: Announcing the verdict of the rental power plant case on Friday, a two-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said that all the rental power projects should be dissolved.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry declared all the contracts of the rental power projects as “illegal”.The chief justice said that legal proceedings should be carried out against all those involved in the corruption.He added that public sector power generation companies (Gencos), Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco), Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) and the federal government is responsible for the corruption of billions of rupees.
The Supreme Court observed that the policy of the rental power projects was not defined on the basis of transparency. The chief justice said that rather than overcoming circular debt, the authorities endorsed more contracts.The chief justice directed that legal proceedings should be carried out against former federal minister for water and power Raja Pervez Ashraf and the then secretary finance for water and power.
The Supreme Court also observed that not only the money should be retrieved but also the markup paid.The verdict was passed on cases involving alleged corruption in contracts of and payments to rental power plants detected by the Nepra.The applicants, Minister for Housing and Works Faisal Saleh Hayat and MNA Khawaja Muhammad Asif appeared in person while the government departments, sponsors and owners of the rental power plants were represented by their counsels.The judgement was reserved on December 14 last year and was announced today. – Thetribune
