ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday refused to give Bahria Town fine money to the Malir Development Authority on the latter’s request, saying the money will be funneled into welfare projects instead of the Sindh government or the MDA.
As the top court took up the Bahria Town implementation case, MDA counsel Advocate Farooq H. Naek told the bench that the Sindh government owed the MDA more than Rs1.6 billion and that money should be refunded from the amount which Bahria Town had deposited in the top court.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan said that the money didn’t belong to the MDA and that it should ask the Sindh government for money if it had any pending dues.
Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan said the money belonged to the people of Sindh instead of the provincial or federal governments and submitted a proposal in the court asking it to spend the money on welfare projects in the province.
He urged the court to constitute a committee headed by a retired judge, comprising the representatives of the Federation and Sindh as its members, for transparency in these projects.
Upon this, the Sindh advocate general raised an objection and said the federal government shouldn’t be allowed to interfere in the internal matters of Sindh.
Justice Ahsan said the committee would be formed to give proposals for the welfare schemes and that it won’t be interfering in the matters of the provincial government.
Criticising the Sindh government and MDA, Justice Ahsan the land was “gifted to Bahria Town” as both Sindh and MDA were of the view that neither the land nor the money should be returned.
However, after the money was returned, now the MDA and Sindh government both want to start development works, he took a jibe.
The court issued notices to the Sindh government over the federal government and the Malir Development Authority pleas and adjourned the case till April 12.
