Saaf Pani case and acquital of accused by accountability court

  Saaf Pani Case and Acquittal ofAccused

 by an Accountability Court  

 In the Saaf Pani case, the accountability court  under Section 265K acquitted the accused  

In the Saaf Pani case, the accountability court Lahore issued a 24-page written verdict. The court in its judgment rejected all the allegations of NAB one by one in detail.

  Saaf Pani case and acquital of accused by accountability court  

 The court wrote in its judgment that there was no evidence of any commission, kickback, or any other financial gain against Engineer Qamarul Islam and his co-accused. 

In its judgment, the court categorically rejected the allegations of damages to the exchequer, stating that the actions of the accused did not harm the exchequer but benefited it and that every step taken at every stage was in the best interest of the exchequer.

 I was. The court held that there was no violation of any law, rule, or even procedure, including papyrus rules in general, in all these processes apart from raising financial interest and causing loss to the public exchequer, and NAB's allegations in this regard were not true.

 The court noted that great care was taken to make the entire project efficient and useful to the people, achieve the public welfare objectives, and maximize its benefits to the maximum population without increasing the cost. Tried.

 In the Saaf Pani case, the accountability court  under Section 265K acquitted the accused  

 In its judgment, the court, in the light of all available records, covered the entire process from the formation of the company to the completion of the project and declared that it was by the rules and regulations in all respects

. Starting the trial would be a waste of time, therefore, under Section 265K, all the accused, including Engineer Qamar-ul-Islam, are acquitted by approving the acquittal of the accused. 

It is pertinent to mention here that one year after filing the original reference, the NAB had also filed a supplementary reference with the same reference, alleging irregularities in the acquisition of a rented building for a clean water company.

 Along with Wasim Ajmal, Rabia Imran Ali, daughter of former Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, and Imran Ali Yousaf, son-in-law of former Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, were also accused of confiscating their property The process was also started. 

The court also acquitted Wasim Ajmal of all charges in this supplementary reference, declaring that the process of acquiring the office building was by the rules and regulations. 

He was not acquitted on the ground of non-appearance in court and being declared a fugitive, but according to the judgment, to the extent of supplementary reference charges, in this case also, everything has been done by the rules and regulations and no irregularity has been found.

 The court also wrote in the judgment that not only was there no breach in the rent of the building but the clean water company, as soon as it came to know that the building had an indirect connection with a political figure, immediately terminated the lease agreement. The building was vacated.

 In the light of the record, the court covered in detail all the events from the formation of the clean water company to the successful completion of the project. In the first phase, the water company carried out 84 water treatments in four tehsils of each of the four districts of Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Lodhran, and Rahim Yar Khan, namely Lodhran, Manchinabad, Khanpur, and Hasilpur. 

Completed the pre-qualification process of companies for plant installation in which two companies KSB Pumps Ltd (a German company operating in more than 40 countries) and Amin Brothers Engineering Company Limited were pre-qualified. The bidding process was completed after the pre-qualification.

 These water filtration plants were to run on WAPDA's electricity as well as solar energy so as not to disrupt the uninterrupted water supply. KSB Pumps offered the lowest bid of Rs 1.14 billion for 84 plants while Amin Brothers bid Rs 1.27 billion which was 13 crores more than KSB Pumps. ۔ Based on this, the bid of KSB Pumps was accepted. 

 In the Saaf Pani case, the accountability court  under Section 265K acquitted the accused  

Instead of awarding the contract to KSB Pumps after the bidding was approved, it was asked to revise its price keeping in view the preliminary engineering estimate, as a result of which it reduced its price to Rs 98 crore.

 The contractor selection committee, which was constituted for this purpose, approved the reduction and sent it to the procurement committee, which forwarded the reduction along with its recommendations to the board of directors for approval. Approved in May 2015. KSB Pumps, meanwhile, re-submitted its offer through a letter dated May 25, 2015, stating that if the number of plants was increased from 84 to 102, the manufacturer would get another 20% discount. 

Given this, the Procurement Committee at its tenth meeting dated June 2, 2015, accepted the offer and sent it with its recommendations to the Board of Directors which unanimously approved it at its fourteenth meeting dated June 17, 2015. The cost of the initial 84 water treatment plants was further reduced to Rs 91 crore. 

Then one year later on 23rd May 2016 it came to the notice of the Board of Directors that the installation of 80 plants has been completed and now that the power supply has also improved so if the cost of the solar system is removed and some other changes in the project.

If done, the remaining 22 plants could be replaced by 36 plants providing the same quality and quantity of water, which would not only further benefit the exchequer but also provide clean drinking water to the more populated areas of the most backward areas. Will start

 Therefore, the Board of Directors also approved this proposal on May 18, 2016, and as a result, 116 water treatment plants are providing water in the required quantity and quality instead of 84 at the same initial price. 

The fifth tehsil, Dunyapur, an adjoining tehsil of the Bahawalpur division, was selected for the plants. Gaya and in his decision referred to the recorded minutes of the 23rd Board Meeting dated 18th May 2016 and wrote that in this meeting three options were put before the Board one of which was to continue the work on 102 plants as before. 

And one was to get the same quality and quantity of water for the additional population from the additional 14 plants at the same cost by eliminating solar energy in the remaining 22 plants and reducing the area of ​​the plant for the additional population. 

The court ruled in favor of water, as well as outside the water plant buildings For the protection and beauty of this part, the decision of weather shield paint, which is made with special weather reference, instead of the usual color that is quickly lost, also ruled out the possibility of any malice.

 The court in its judgment, citing various provisions of the Papua Rules, further said that no violation of rules and regulations was found in the entire process.

 The court, in its judgment, rejected the NAB's position, citing three notable Supreme Court decisions.

 The court also wrote that all these actions are in the best interest of the people and in accordance with all the prevailing laws and regulations till the completion of the supply of the best drinking water to the residents of the most backward areas of the province. reached.

 Earlier, a two-member division bench of the Lahore High Court had given a similar opinion in its lengthy bail decision

 (summary of the 24-page decision).