ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court (SC) while granting time to government for
reinstatement of Capt (Rtd) Zafar Qureshi till today had said Attorney
General should tell if probe into political intervention in Zafar
Qureshi matter would be got conducted by any judge then what could be
its repercussions.
A three member bench headed by Justice
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) and
comprising other two members namely Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and
.Justice Amir Hani Muslim heard Suo Moto Case No. 18 of 2010 (Action
regarding violation of Public procurement Rules, 2004 in procurement
loss of billions of rupees to public exchequer caused by National
Insurance Company Ltd).
Maulvi Anwar-ul–Haq, AGP, ,Mr Muhammad
Manzoor Acting D.G FIA,Mr Muhammad Azam Khan,DIR (Law)FIA and Captain
(R) Zafar Ahmed Qureshi Additional D.G, FIA appeared Thursday on court
notice.
The court passed the order that the learned Attorney
General for Pakistan has stated that the Acting D.G, FIA Ch. Manzoor
Ahmed, had issued the notification dated July, 14. in pursuance whereof
transfer orders of Mr. Javed Hussain Shah, Mr. Muhammad Ahmed, Mr.
Khalid Anees and Mr. Muhammad Sarwar, made vide notification
No.793/Admn-1-2001 dated 1.7.2011 have been cancelled. A copy of the
notification has been placed on record, according to which, order of
cancellation of earlier notification was made in compliance with the
order of this Court dated 13.7.2011. Upon this, we have pointed out to
the learned Attorney General that this Court had passed order on
7.7.2011 for cancellation of the earlier notification referred to
hereinabove which fact does not reflect from the notification.
On
this, the Acting D.G, FIA made appropriate correction and a new
notification has been placed on record complying with the directions of
this Court dated 7.7.2011, which are reproduced as “We, therefore,
direct the Director General, FIA, through learned Attorney General, to
reverse the transfer orders of the afore-named officers/members of the
investigating team of Capt (R) Zafar Ahmad Qureshi immediately and post
them at the places where they were earlier performing their duties,
pending decision of this matter.”
The above order was duly
communicated to the incumbent D.G, FIA, Mr Tehseen Anwar Shah, on
8.7.2011 through the learned Attorney General as well as by the office.
Surprisingly, he did not comply with the order until 13.7.2011, when
the case was taken up, we were informed that on 11.7.2011, the D.G,
F.I.A has proceeded to U.K in connection with official commitment. On
this, the learned Attorney General was asked to direct the officer, who
is holding the charge of the office of D.G, FIA, in his absence to
comply with the said order.
Accordingly, Ch. Manzoor Ahmed, who
has been notified as Acting D.G appeared with the notification by which
the members of the investigating team of Mr. Zafar Ahmed Qureshi were
transferred and posted back to the places where they were performing
their duties earlier on 1.7.2011. The D.G, FIA had a constitutional and
legal duty to comply with the orders of this Court as is envisaged
under Article 190 of the Constitution and he had no authority to avoid
and or defy the orders which were issued as back as on 7.7.2011 and
were communicated to him on 8.7.2011. The D.G, FIA, has not only
violated the judicial order of this Court but, ex facie, has rendered
himself liable for disciplinary proceedings under the E&D Rules.
However, before initiating contempt proceedings against him, we refer
the matter to the Secretary, Establishment Division, Government of
Pakistan, for placing it before the competent authority under the
Government Servants (Efficiency & Discipline) Rules, 1973, and
departmental proceedings against him be initiated forthwith, result
whereof shall also be communicated to this Court through Registrar. In
the meanwhile, the Secretary, Establishment Division, shall keep this
Court apprised of the progress in the proposed proceedings taken
against him in this behalf from time to time through the learned
Attorney General who shall collect relevant information. The
officers/members of the investigating team, whose transfer orders have
been cancelled were in fact penalized for conducting honest and
thorough probe of the N.I.C.L scam where four cases were registered
vide F.I.Rs No.24/2010, 29/2010, 46/2010 and 5/2011 are being
investigated by them. As per record made available to this Court, they
did made remarkable progress in unearthing the crime. Instead of
appreciating their sincere efforts, which they have made honestly and
with full dedication, they were posted out of the province of Punjab to
different places as is evident from the notification dated 7.7.2011
which notification was issued after when this Court had passed the
order suspending the notification dated 18.4.2o11 by which Capt. (R)
Zafar Ahmed Qureshi was disassociated from the investigation of the
case. The order of the transfers was in fact being passed to frustrate
the investigation of the cases registered vide above-noted F.I.Rs. Such
illegal action committed by the D.G, FIA, has made to suffer who worked
honestly and stand by the rule of law. At the same time, the national
exchequer has also been burdened for making payment of TA/DA to the
transferring officers to join the different places and they came back
on their re-transfer. Therefore, notice be issued to the D.G, FIA to
appear and explain as to why instead of burdening the national
exchequer he should not be burdened to make payment towards TA/DA of
these officers from his own pocket. On the receipt of his reply and
after hearing him, order in this behalf shall be passed. The learned
Attorney General was repeatedly apprised about the observation of this
Court in its order dated 7.7.2011 in which this Court has taken notice
of the newspaper reports in which Capt. (R) Zafar Ahmed Qureshi has
been given 4 options as has appeared in the print media and it further
reported that his suspension was the result of political intervention
on account of which he was suspended after this Court suspended the
notification dated 18.4.2011, besides his investigation team was also
transferred from Lahore to different places. Therefore, this matter
requires thorough probe through a judicial officer because if the
reports appearing in the newspapers which finds support from the
prevailing circumstances is established in enquiry that actions of the
authorities were the outcome of political intervention and order passed
by this Court on 1.7.2011and 7.7.2011 and an attempt to make them
ineffective and inoperative, it would have its own repercussions. We
have given our mind to the learned Attorney General that we intend to
appoint some judicial officer to conduct a thorough probe into the
matter and submit report in this behalf. We have made the learned
Attorney General to realize about the repercussions because we believe
that the institutions should function within their own parameters and
if the court has passed the order which required compliance, it should
be implemented and if there are some reservations, then remedy is
available under the constitution. But instead of availing the remedies
attempts are made to defy the order and or to make it ineffective. This
act, ex facie, amounts to interference in the independence of the
judiciary. The Attorney General states that some time be given to him
to seek instructions in this behalf. The same was the position on
13.7.2011 and even today in the morning when the case was taken up, he
asked time for the instructions and the case was taken up in the second
half but no response was received. We, in the larger interest of the
institutions grant another opportunity to the learned Attorney General
to seek instructions by 15.7.2011. Adjourned to come up on 15.7.2011 at
9:30 am.” Online
