Daily Times

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Gulzar Ahmed on Monday lamented the lack of “transparency” in the steps the government has taken to combat the coronavirus pandemic so far.

The observation was made during a hearing of a suo motu case pertaining to the federal and provincial governments’ response to the COVID-19 crisis.

The case is being heard by a five-member bench headed by the chief justice. Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed are other members of the bench. The top court examined a report submitted by the federal government on measures taken to tackle the crisis. “All governments (federal and provincial) are spending money for relief [but] there is no transparency to be seen. There is no transparency in any of the steps [taken],” the chief justice said. Justice Umar Ata Bandial noted that the Centre had doled out more than Rs 9 billion to provinces and added, “Monitoring should be done of what the provinces are doing with the money.” “Monitoring does not affect provincial autonomy. Monitoring is also a form of an audit,” Justice Bandial said. The chief justice remarked that the zakat and charity money given to the government by the people “is not for TA & DA (travelling allowance and dearness allowance) or foreign tours”. “Zakat money cannot be used for office expenses. How can charity money be used to give salaries of officials?” Justice Gulzar said. The government should give salaries to officials, the chief justice said, adding that the DG of the Baitul Maal was also receiving his salary from the zakat fund.

Justice Bandial said that according to the report submitted, the government had collected more than Rs 9 billion in zakat but “nothing has been mentioned about how the money is passed on to the deserving people”.

The CJP then asked the provinces and the Centre to submit reports on the disbursement of zakat funds in the next hearing. Supreme Court has sought opinion from Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and Mufti Taqi Usmani regarding the payment of salaries of the Baitul Maal staff from the zakat fund.

The chief justice also inquired about quarantine facilities provided by the government and said that people who were isolated in these centres were being charged. “Those who cannot pay should be kept in quarantine centres free of charge.” the CJP said.

In response to a question, Health Secretary Tanveer Ahmed Qureshi – who appeared before the court – said that there were 16 quarantine centres in Islamabad, which included hotels, Haji Camp, an OGDCL building and the Pak-China Centre.

“On what basis were hotels chosen to quarantine people? Why weren’t all hotels given a chance to become quarantine centres?” he asked, adding that conditions in Islamabad’s Haji Camp quarantine centre were “inhumane”. Qureshi told the court that people who arrived from other countries were kept in quarantine centres for 24 hours.

“People take one Panadol tablet and go through screening undetected [for symptoms],” the chief justice regretted. Qureshi explained that this was the reason behind keeping passengers in quarantine centres for 24 hours. The chief justice asked Qureshi if he had visited Haji Camp, to which the latter replied in the negative but added that the additional health secretary had visited the centre. “Visit Haji Camp, OGDCL building and Pak-China Centre yourself today,” Justice Gulzar told Qureshi. “Make sure that food and all basic facilities are being provided in quarantine centres.”

“I will pay a visit today and ensure that all facilities are being provided,” Qureshi assured the court.

The Islamabad advocate general informed the court that another quarantine centre was being set up over 32 kanals in Chak Shehzad.

“Instead of making quarantine centres, why aren’t [buildings] of schools and colleges being used [for that purpose]?” Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, who is also part of the bench, asked. “Why is money being spent on building new quarantine centres?”

“The suggestion to [use buildings of] schools is a good one, we will consider it,” Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan said.

“The government is spending a lot of money but it is not clear what is happening,” the top judge remarked, and added, “Staying in the quarantine centre at Taftan was a nightmare.”

“[Who knows] how the money given by the public and other countries is being spent. Billions of rupees have been spent and there are only 5,000 patients.”

Justice Gulzar complained that none of the provinces or departments had submitted reports “based on transparency”.

The Punjab advocate general told the court that the provincial government was distributing relief money among people whose income had been affected due to the lockdown, through mobile transfer service. Justice Gulzar pointed out that the details of the money spent were not mentioned in the report.

The bench grilled the Sindh advocate general over details of the money spent on ration bags which were distributed among the lower-income people.

Sindh AG Salman Talibuddin informed the court that the provincial government had distributed Rs 569 million from the zakat fund among more than 94,000 people. When asked who had received the money, the AG responded, “The same people who receive zakat every year were given the money.”

The court wondered how the Sindh government distributed ration bags worth Rs 1 billion without anyone knowing. “The Sindh government hands out pictures to media for the smallest things,” the chief justice said.

“Pictures are not being taken because [the government] does not want to do politics over coronavirus,” Talibuddin said, and added that the Sindh government had been distributing ration bags since March 30. In response to a question, the AG said that the data of houses of lower-income people who qualified to receive zakat was provided by union committees.

“It pains us that fingers are pointed at our province,” said Justice Sajjad Ali Shah.

While explaining the rationale behind sealing 11 UCs in Karachi, the Sindh AG said that by April 12, 234 cases had been detected from the sealed areas, which collectively house more than 600,000 people. The court welcomed the decision to reopen some industries but told the government to ensure that standard operating procedures were being followed.

The Balochistan government also presented a report on quarantine centres for people coming from Iran and relief provided to people. The bench paid tribute to medical professionals and sanitary staff and instructed the provincial governments to ensure their well-being. The hearing was adjourned for two weeks.