The Supreme Court on Thursday deemed illegal the agreement regarding purchase of armoured personnel carriers (APC) by Sindh police from Serbia instead of the Heavy Mechanical Complex (HMC), Taxila.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja gave the verdict.
Earlier on Wednesday, the deputy attorney general (DAG) had raised doubts over the legality of agreement.
DAG Khawaja Ahmad Hussain told SC that the inspector general (IG) of police cannot sign such an agreement because the IG office is not an independent entity.
Sindh police had entered into an agreement with Yugoimport SDPR, a Serbian state-run company, for the purchase of 20 Lazar II armoured fighting vehicles of B-7 category that will cost Rs 1.23 billion.
Farooq Naek, counsel for the Sindh government, however, stated that payment has not been made yet. He contended that the agreement was done with the approval of the chief minister while the finance department had allocated the amount.
The SC on March 4 sought legal assistance from Attorney General for Pakistan over the purchase of APC by Sindh police from Serbia instead of the HMC, Taxila.
The DAG further stated that though the agreement was signed with the approval of the Sindh chief minister, its status is not legal because under Section 24(4) Sindh Rules 1996, the provincial governor signs such type of agreements after taking legal opinion from the Law Ministry.
Upon this, the bench pointed out that nothing is mentioned about the Sindh governor in this agreement. It also made clear that if the agreement is illegal then it has no legal status.
The court also observed that no advertisement was given regarding the purchase of APC by the Sindh police, adding that rules are very clear that the police cannot enter into agreement regarding the purchase of APCs worth Rs 1.23 billion because it (police) works under the Interior Ministry.
The Honorary Consul of Serbia in Pakistan is influential person. He can convince our political leadership to purchase expensive arms while securing huge kickbacks for himself and for them. An armored vehicle costing 30 million Rs will be bought for 150 million Rs and everyone will be happy.
Comments are closed.