A three-member bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition pertaining to the delay in construction of Nandipur power project after it found out that a reference on the matter had been taken up by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Heading the bench, Chief Justice Saqib Nisar said that the case could no longer be heard since the accountability watchdog had filed a reference and court proceedings should not affect its investigation.
Meanwhile, an accountability court is set to indict former premier Raja Pervez Ashraf and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Babar Awan in the Nandipur Power Project reference on October 24. During a hearing of the corruption reference, the court had ordered that a copy of the reference should be provided to all the accused who should be directed to ensure their appearance for the next hearing.
Ashraf, Awan, former secretaries of the ministry of law Muhammad Masood Chishti and Justice (retd) Riaz Kiyani, former research consultant of the law ministry Shamila Mahmood, former senior joint secretary ministry of law Dr Riaz Mahmood and former secretary ministry of water and power Shahid Rafi are accused in the case. According to details of the project, it was approved by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on December 27, 2007, at a cost of US$329 million.
Published in Daily Times, September 11th 2018.
