CJP gives back piece of land donated to dam fund by 'depressed' father

Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed on Thursday gave back a 12-kanal piece of land donated by its  owner to "The Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of Pakistan Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dams Fund".

A hearing was held after a petition was turned in by the owner's son, who said the land was donated by his father out of "depression".

He said "criminals" had taken over the land and had also filed a case against the family.

At this, the chief justice expressed annoyance, saying: "You have declared your father a patient of depression over a few pennies. What is this drama you have staged in the court?"

He told the petitioner to take back the documentation of the land. "If you must donate land to the dam fund, do it out of happiness."

The Supreme Court registrar was told to give back all paperwork to the owner.

According to a Dawn report the dam fund has so far amassed some Rs11.2 billion.

In a written response to a question by MNA Hamid Hameed in a session of the parliament, Minister for Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, "informed the assembly that an amount of Rs11,250,487,205 as donations/contributions in the [dam fund] had been deposited till November 17, 2020".

“An amount of Rs1,708,316,344 as profit on investments of the Dams Fund have also been received in the Fund Account,” the minister said.

The report said that he also informed the house that Rs155,785,486 for the fund had been collected through cellular companies and Pakistan Railways had deposited Rs17,603,883 in the Dam Fund Account with respect to donation collected through sale of train tickets.

The minister further said that “so far no amount has been withdrawn from the Dams Fund accounts maintained with the State Bank of Pakistan”.