SC moved against Rs100bn allocation for Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin

ISLAMABAD: The process of allocation of Rs100 billion by Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi for the development schemes in Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddindistricts was challenged on Monday in the Supreme Court (SC).

Mian Dawood advocate filed a petition in the apex court under Article 184(3) of the constitution, praying to the court to declare that the allocation of disproportionate funds to the constituencies of the Punjab chief minister and the members of his family in violation of the Constitutional provisions.

The petitioner submitted that it was reported in the media that Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi first granted his home district the status of division and then allocated over Rs100 billion for the development schemes, apparently for the two districts — Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin — but it turns out that 70 percent of the funds are meant for the constituencies belonging to the family of the incumbent chief minister.

He also prayed to the apex court to declare that the allocation, re-appropriation, deflection through supplemental/excess grants of funds in the three constituencies only and the concomitant projects have been initiated and/or being initiated in violation of the principle of transparency, good governance and procurement laws.

The petitioner has made Punjab chief secretary, secretary Finance Department, Lahore, secretary, Planning and Development Department, government of Punjab, chairman Planning & Development Board, Punjab, Accountant General Office Punjab and National Accountability Bureau, Islamabad as respondents.

The petitioner further prayed to apex court to restrain the respondents from further diverting, re-appropriating and deflecting the funds in disregard to the annual budget.

He also prayed that direction might kindly be issued to NAB or any other investigating agencies for investigation against those responsible for violation of Constitutional provisions and principles of transparency and procurement laws and causing loss/damage to public exchequer.

The petitioner submitted that the official respondents have acted contrary to the various provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan as interpreted by the apex court in the case action against the distribution of development funds by former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf PLD 2014 SC 131.

He submitted that the recent flood in Pakistan had affected the whole country as well Punjab especially South Punjab and the affected areas needs special priorities for their rehabilitation, but since Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has sworn in as Punjab chief minister on July 26, 2022, it is being reported in the media that development funds of the Punjab are being allocated, diverted and deflected to only those constituencies or districts i.e., Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin and others under the garb of supplementary budget, and in some cases after making cuts on the development budgets of other districts and other public welfare projects.

“It is a matter of great concerns that even PC-1 and in most of the cases PC-II are not being prepared and followed for the development schemes and projects in those constituency/districts which are the political electrical areas of the incumbent Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and the members of his family”, the petitioner maintained.

He further submitted that the above stated allocation of funds by masquerading the same as supplemental grants is in addition to the non-developmental expenditure to be incurred on building paraphernalia for all divisional offices in Gujrat.

“It has been further reported that around Rs700 billion are the total budget allocation for Punjab’s Annual Development Programme (2022-23), of which a significant portion went to Gujrat division, comprising four small districts — Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Wazirabad, and Hafizabad — although the lion’s share was kept within the two families”, the petitioner contended.

He submitted that the major beneficiaries from Gujrat are the constituencies of Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi, Chaudhry Moonis Elahi, and Chaudhry Hussain Elahi, who is the son of Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain.

He informed the court that one Muhammad Khan Bhatti belonging to Mandi Bahauddin District has been appointed as principle secretary to the incumbent Punjab CM whose appointment qua principle secretary is illegal and made in violation of the law and rules applicable thereto.

His nephew namely Sajid Bhatti from Mandi Bahauddin has also received the highest grant among all MPAs, the petitioner stated adding that he is the nephew of Muhammad Khan Bhatti and the parliamentary leader of the PMLQ in the Punjab Assembly.

The petitioner submitted that details of tenders floated for development work in his provincial constituency suggest the volume of the fund is more than Rs15 billion adding that the fraud upon public exchequer is palpable from the fact that 50 percent of projects related to road repair have been spent/allocated for the repair and/or construction of those roads and projects which were carried out the preceding four years which clearly reflects the mala fide misuse of the public exchequer.

The petitioner further submitted that most of the projects have been carried out in violation of procurement laws in as much as around 90 percent of the payment has been made, whereas only 20 percent of the work has been completed on the said projects.

He informed the court that most of the development schemes have been approved in haste and without proper feasibility studies, i.e. preparation and approval of PC-1, PC-II and approval of the supplementary grants from the provincial assembly as mandatory under the Constitution of Pakistan.

He further submitted that before Parvaiz Elahi became CM at the end of July this year, 164 schemes worth Rs9 billion were approved for Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin. Afterward, the budget for these two districts first increased to Rs54 billion and then to over Rs100 billion.

Now, there are 113 schemes worth over Rs45 billion in one constituency alone, where Parvaiz Elahi is MPA (PP-80) and his son is MNA (NA-69). Another Rs10 billion for 103 schemes have been allocated for the area falling in the constituency of Hussain Elahi (NA-68).

“As many as 116 schemes have been approved for Mandi Bahauddin. The majority of them are in PP-67, Bhatti’s constituency, and their worth is around Rs20 billion”, the petitioner submitted adding that all the schemes introduced after the initial allocation of 164 are being funded through supplementary grants approved at a time when the flood-affected areas needed resources the most.

the petitioner submitted that the Punjab Financial Rules also devise a proper and legal mechanism for the allocation, re-appropriation and distribution of public funds for the development projects and any other public projects in order to ensure the transparency and good governance, but in the instant case, the Punjab Financial Rules are not followed even in a single project and the payment made to the contractors selected for the development work in the constituencies of the incumbent Chief Minister and his family i.e. NA-68 Gujrat-I belongs to Hussain Elahi, NA-69 Gujrat-II belongs to Moonis Elahi, PP-67 Mandi Bahauddin-III belongs to Sajid Ahmed Bhatti and PP-30 Gujrat-III belongs to Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi.

The petitioner contended that the Punjab Assembly remained in session for four months wherein assembly business on various issues was carried out, but not single debate was carried out on the supplementary grants being given to the constituencies of the Chaudhry’s family as was the requirement of the Constitution of Pakistan interpreted in PLD 2014 Supreme Court 131.