Former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf may lose his candidature for the upcoming general elections, as the Islamabad High Court has suspected him of not being sagacious, righteous, honest and ameen.
The observations have been made in the detailed judgment in a case regarding award of contract pertaining to development scheme worth Rs 3.5 billion in Gujjar Khan, the home constituency of the former PM.
An IHC bench of Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui on Wednesday said the contract awarded to NLC was illegal, unconstitutional, and in violation of PPRA rules.
The IHC also directed sending the copy of the judgment to the chief election commissioner and district returning officer of NA-51 Gujjar Khan constituency.
The court declared that assigning work to NLC was illegal and unconstitutional, offensive to the universally accepted principle of fairness, honesty, transparency, openness and was a result of colourable exercise of authority, irrelevant considerations, naked corruption, polluted mannerism, offensive to public exchequer and an infringement of constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights.
It was also declared that assigning work to NLC was a glaring example of discrimination, favouritism, nepotism, ulterior motives and “stinking approach” to advance personal agenda.
The IHC directed that copies of the judgment be sent to NAB chairman for initiating proceedings against all those involved in the scam, including then prime minister, his principal secretary, secretary ministry of housing and works and all official of PWD who abetted, aided and executed the illegal orders issued on behalf of the then prime minister and officials of NLC.
The court set aside, declared void, unprecedented, sham, rarity, based on cheating, deception and fraud the directive dated October 2, 2012 issued by the principal secretary to the PM, memorandum of understanding between secretary ministry of housing and works and NLC and all subsequent orders passed.
The award of contract was declared cancelled with the direction that NLC shall return all amount received for execution of the projects within a week of the receipt of the order.
The procuring agency, PWD, may initiate the procedure afresh strictly in accordance with the PPRA Ordinance, 2002 and PPRA Rules, 2004 and by following the dictums laid down on the point of Public Procurement by the Supreme Court of Pakistan and may complete its process within a month, the court further directed.
The court passed the verdict after a contempt application was moved by a private company, Gondal Construction, which claimed that PWD had released the Rs 3.5 billion amount for the construction of the Mandra-Chakwal and Sohawa-Chakwal roads in the former premier’s constituency despite the court’s stay order.