–Justice Gulzar says ‘huge amount’ of money donated to fund has not been transferred to Pakistan due to obstacles
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to “remove obstacles” hindering the transfer of donations by overseas Pakistanis to the dam fund and sought a report on this matter.
The observation was made by a five-member bench during the hearing of a case pertaining to Diamer-Bhasha Dam.
Justice Ijazaul Ahsan said the central bank should look into these complaints, as a number of expatriates were failing to submit money to the fund owning to banks’ refusal to collect donations.
Justice Gulzar Ahmed remarked that there were reports of a “huge amount” of money contributed to the dam fund had not been transferred to Pakistan due to obstacles.
During the proceedings, the National Bank of Pakistan submitted a record of investments made by the bank using donations from the dam fund which totalled Rs12 billion. The bank’s representative informed the court that the profit from the investments is expected to come by February 2020.
The bench told SBP to submit a report on Supreme Court’s directions in the next hearing that has been adjourned until four weeks.
The top court also reviewed a progress report submitted by an SC-mandated implementation committee on the issue of Diamer-Bhasha Dam.
The bench noted that two tribes had raised a dispute over land, which was bought from them by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and was then handed over to the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) to work on the dam project.
To which, the counsel representing the tribes said that the government was not paying “right price” for the land, adding that “90 per cent of the land” belonged to their clients.
WAPDA’s lawyer Saad Rasool told the court that the dispute was between the government and the tribes and WAPDA was not a party to it. He added that the government has already handed over 900 acres of land to the authority.
The bench advised that they shouldn’t ask the government for a price that is four times more than the actual price and added told the tribes to approach to go the relevant forum to resolve the matter.
The total land required for the project is 37,419 acres which included 19,062 acres of state and 18,357 acres of private land.
During the course of the hearing today, WAPDA told the court that the government had not yet released Rs200 billion. The court directed the secretaries of the ministries of power and finance to release the funds.
