ISLAMABAD: As Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry calls it a day today he leaves behind a legacy of standing firm against corruption, misrule and violations of human rights in Pakistan. For 180 million Pakistanis, he was, perhaps, the only man standing between the corrupt and national wealth.
It was the magic of suo moto powers envisaged in Article 184-3 of Constitution that enabled Justice Chaudhry to do the undoable. He set a precedent that the judiciary can be one of the most difficult barriers to cross to loot the public wealth.
The suo moto notices created panic among the ranks of corrupt elite but at the same time they did bring a ray of hope for the nation. Whenever there was violation of human rights or any incident of corruption, it was only the Chief justice who stood against it and record of the past four and a half years is a guide for the entire nation.
Since 2009 the SC has taken up corruption cases involving billion of rupees and has saved billions of the national exchequer, which had almost gone to the pockets of the powerful and the mighty. This figure is apart from the NRO cases that involve another Rs175 billion of looted money.
Below is the list of cases that are feathers in the cap of CJ Iftikhar:Reko Diq case: The SC took up a case worth $500 billion where Balochistan’s gold mines were being thrown before multi-nationals for peanuts. The SC cancelled the illegal lease of the gold mines.
The NICL Scam: Over a letter of the Transparency International, the SC took a suo moto notice of dubious purchases worth Rs5 billion by the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) of which most of the amount has been recovered.
Missing persons’ case: The SC has been and is still hearing the case of missing persons. The Chief Justice, on numerous occasions, held the court in Quetta and not only a few missing persons were recovered, but senior officials of FC were also grilled by the CJ.
Intelligence agencies keep on producing the missing persons only because of the pressure from the SC.
Elimination of dual nationals from parliament: The SC took up cases which raised the issue whether a dual national can hold a position in parliament or not, and the court ruled that the Constitution bars a dual national from becoming a parliamentarian and also ruled that all the salaries and perks drawn by dual nationals be recovered from the MPs. Even an advisor to PM Nawaz Sharif, Shujat Azeem, was also sent packing over the issue.
Fake degrees case: The SC also ruled in Rizwan Gill case that anyone who has submitted a fake educational document with the Election Commission of Pakistan cannot hold a position in the parliament. As a result of this judgment, a few parliamentarians had to lose their seats in the parliament.
Wage Board Award case: The SC also pronounced a judgement against the owners of media houses and directed them to implement the 7th Wage Board Award. Earlier the case was dragged in courts during the tenure of different CJs and owners were happy on decision being not made in the case. The Jang Group had to bear 60 per cent effect of the decision in Wage Board Award case.
Memo case: The SC took up a case instituted by Mian Nawaz Sharif regarding a memo allegedly written by Husain Haqqani, ex-ambassador to US. A commission was formed over the issue, which submitted its report. The ambassador resigned in the meanwhile.
Haj Scam: The SC also took suo moto notice of the corruption in the hajj arrangements and a federal minister was jailed in the same corruption case. The FIA tried to dodge the apex court in multi-billion rupees scandal relating to the Haj operation, which, besides others, also included the alleged involvement of ex-prime minister’s son Abdul Qadir Gilani.
RPP case: The SC also saved around Rs455 billion through its judgment in the Rental Power Plants (RPPs) case. During the hearing of the RPPs case, in pursuance of the orders passed by the apex court from time to time, a sum of Rs8,689,224,000 (rupees 8 billion 689 million 224 thousand) was recovered from the RPPs on account of advance payments and interest. The NAB is pursuing the cases as a reference has been filed by the bureau, which involves ex-PM Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.
Bank of Punjab case: During the Musharraf regime, Haris Steel owners in connivance the then BoP President Hamesh Khan took a financial facility of Rs8.6 billion on fake collaterals, bogus documents and fraudulent companies. CJ Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry after his restoration on March 16, 2009 took up the mega corruption scandal and ordered confiscation of assets of the looters and a considerable amount has so far been deposited with the BoP.
When dozens of innocent people were being killed in Karachi daily, and the PPP government was doing nothing, it was again the SC who took suo moto notice of the incident and CJ along with two other members of SC went to Karachi and heard cases there. The SC handed down judgement in Karachi violence case, which resulted in demotion of dozens of police officers promoted out of turn.
Another suo moto notice was taken over the public lynching of two brothers in Sialkot. The accused of that incident have been awarded death sentence and imprisonment.
Evacuee Trust Property Board case: CJ through a suo moto action blocked the controversial sale of 240 acres Evacuee Trust Property Board Karachi’s land worth billions of rupees for peanuts. The report, which appeared in The News, had also revealed that almost each and every inch of the total 2,380 acres of state-owned land, belonging to the Evacuee Properties Trust (EPT) Board in Karachi worth a whopping Rs60 billion, has been grabbed by the land mafia.
Sindh land allotment cases: The SC took suo moto notice of the regularisation of 50 acres of Karachi land at throw away prices that led to the immediate cancellation of the allotment.
Federal Government Housing Foundation land scam: CJ also took suo moto notice on a column of Daily Jang regarding illegal allotment of government plots for peanuts by the Federal Government Housing Foundation besides the controversial purchase of over 2,000 kanals of land in the suburbs of Islamabad for government housing scheme.
Punjab land allotments: The court directed the Punjab Board of Revenue to produce all cases of allotments made by the government during the last four-five years amid reports that thousands of acres of land was doled out to favourites.
Steel Mills scandal: CJP took suo moto notice of the loot and plunder of this national institution, which involves a loss of Rs22 billion to the public sector enterprise.
New Murree Project: SC also ordered end of New Murree Project, worth Rs60 billion, which was a man-made disaster for the entire forest range of Murree.
Following the demand of MQM’s chief, Altaf Hussain, SC also took up the matter of written off loans and directed the State Bank of Pakistan to submit the list. The list of SBP stated that loans worth Rs256 billion were written off in last 38 years since 1971.
Pakistan Cricket Board: The SC also took suo moto notice of embezzlement of Rs7 billion in the Pakistan Cricket Board and directed the board to submit its report. The Supreme Court did not even spare the plaza owners of Lahore and ordered dismantling of illegally constructed plazas.
The SC also took up the case of a murder and remanded the case to Session’s Judge Islamabad. The Sessions Judge in his report unearthed one of the mega land scams of the country’s history involving over 30,000 kanals of land grabbing in the suburbs of the capital.
Sugar price issue: After cartelisation of sugar mafia and unprecedented hike in the sugar price, the apex court took suo moto notice and after hearing and analysing the whole sugar marketing process, fixed the sugar price at Rs40 per kg and ordered the federal and provincial governments to take all necessary steps to ensure the sale of sugar in the whole country on the price as decided by the Supreme Court.
Musharraf’s electricity theft case: After disclosure of theft of electricity of hundreds of thousands of rupees by ex-military dictator General Pervez Musharraf and some other influential residents of Islamabad’s Chak Shahzad farmhouses, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took suo moto notice and ordered inquiry.
Alleged corruption of former Attorney General and ex-Governor Punjab Latif Khosa: The SC took up the case of alleged corruption of former attorney general Latif Khosa on the application and affidavit of a citizen. The citizen had alleged that Latif Khosa had taken bribe of Rs3 million from him for influencing a court decision. SC had referred this case to the Pakistan Bar Council.
Murree Gas Pipeline Project: The CJ also took suo moto notice of alteration in Murree gas pipeline project which was to benefit Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, son of Punjab chief minister, who had constructed a bungalow at Dunga Gali. This alteration was costing Rs750million along with destruction of thousands of trees. Another suo moto action was taken over extension of Canal Road Lahore where hundreds of trees were being cut to facilitate the elite. The Supreme Court also took notice of public flogging of a girl in Swat. Another important case of promotions of 54 officers of grade 21 was also heard by the SC. Of late, in October 2013, the SC also demoted 80 senior bureaucrats.
