ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday summoned a report from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to explain how it has been spending the funds allocated for the coronavirus pandemic.
The court has asked for details on the purchase of N-95 masks, imported medicines and the machinery brought in for a private company Al-Hafeez.
A five-member larger bench heard the suo motu hearing on the pandemic. The attorney general appeared in court too.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed said that the court doesn’t know how the NDMA is working and managing its expenditures. “They are importing medicines, we don’t know why those medicines are being imported.”
Justice Ijazul Ahsan asked if those medicines will be provided to the public hospitals.
The auditor general conducts the audit of the NDMA, said the attorney general, adding that the medicines are approved by DRAP.
The chief justice said that an NDMA plane was used to bring some machinery for a private company. Al-Hafeez company brought the machinery to make N-95 masks, he remarked. “Did the company pay any duty on this?”
The attorney general said that the company paid the duty, while the NDMA just provided its plane to it because all flights are closed.
“We want transparency in everything,” said the top judge. “Did the NDMA publish any advertisement for this?”
An NDMA member said that this company is not going to produce N-95 masks.
“We hope favours aren’t being granted to people of choice,” said Justice Ahmed. “There is no transparency in the NDMA’s work.”
He added, “We don’t know about government’s economic policies. The conditions of all departments including the health, education and NDMA are the same.” How does the government plan on solving people’s problems? The country is facing petrol, wheat and sugar crises.
The top judge even remarked that the Sindh government reportedly spent Rs4 billion on 400 luxury cars. It must be the people who are governing the province who would’ve asked for these cars, he remarked. The Sindh government has been ordered to arrange for funds to clean drains in the province.
The hearing has been adjourned for two weeks.
