The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday suspended the notification of Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Qaim Ali Shah regarding special exemption of the Sindh Bank Ltd from the application of the Sindh Public Procurement Act.
A division bench comprising Justices Sajjad Ali Shah and Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi also issued a notice to the Sindh chief secretary, the management of the Sindh Bank and the Sindh Public Procurement Regulatory Authority for June 23.
Earlier, Transparency International Pakistan (TIP)’s Adil Gilani had written a letter to the SHC Chief Justice (CJ) to take notice of the issue.
He stated in his letter that the Sindh CM had exempted the Sindh Bank in clear violation of the law, that the minister has no power to grant exemption, and that under Section 21 of the Police Act 1860 and the National Ehtesab Bureau Act 1999, the Sindh Bank and all its directors are liable to action in case of corruption.
He said that the application of the Sindh Bank for exemption from laws is a blatant violation of the Sindh Public Procurement Act 2009, and that the Sindh government could not grant exemption to the Sindh Bank because it would be tantamount to giving permission for corruption. The SHC CJ converted the letter into a constitutional petition.
Members of TIP’s Board of Trustees decided to initiate a legal battle by challenging the exemption in the SHC.
The plea taken in the letter was that the above-mentioned law was passed by the Sindh Assembly on April 14, 2009.
Exemption granted to the Sindh Bank is not only ultra vires and mala fide, but also an affront to a law enacted by the Assembly.
It has been submitted in the petition that the exemption would open a floodgate of corruption, and all deposits and monies in the bank would be at the mercy of the bank and its officers – something that the exchequer could not afford.
It was prayed in the petition that since the matter is of a grave nature, a stay order against the orders of the chief minister be granted until the issue is resolved.
