No evidence of corruption found in Ata Qasmi’s appointment: SC

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday held that there was no evidence of corruption and nepotism found in the appointment process of Pakistan Television Corporation former managing director Ataul Haq Qasmi.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarat Hilali, accepted the review petition of Qasmi, former finance minister Ishaq Dar, former federal minister for information Pervaiz Rashid and former principal secretary to ex-prime minister Fawad Hasan Fawad.

On November 8, 2018, a three-member bench of the apex court headed by former chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar, while hearing a suo motu case, declared Qasmi’s appointment illegal and directed the federal government to appoint a full-time MD of the corporation after fulfilling all legal, procedural and codal formalities, strictly in accordance with law.

The court ruled that the payment of salary and benefits/ allowances to Qasmi was unlawful and unauthorised and he was not entitled to such payments and cannot retain the same.

The court had directed that an amount be recovered from Qasmi, Pervaiz Rashid, Dar and Fawad Hasan Fawad. The court had noted that the national TV had suffered a loss of Rs197,867,491 and ordered that the sum be recovered from the guilty in the following ratio:

1-Ataul Haq Qasmi 50 percent

2-Pervaiz Rashid: 20 percent

3-Ishaq Dar: 20 percent and Fawad Hasan Fawad 10 percent.

On Thursday, the court held that no evidence of corruption or nepotism has been found, nor has there been any evidence of any loss to state-run TV.

The court, after removing the ban on the appointment of Qasmi as a director in any government institution in the future, declared as incorrect, ordered not to collect money from Qasmi, Pervaiz Rashid, Dar and Fawad Hasan Fawad.

Earlier, during the course of hearing, Muhammad Akram Sheikh, counsel for Qasmi, submitted before the court that his client has been associated with journalism, literature and poetry for the past 50 years. Sheikh contended that the matter did not fall under suo motu jurisdiction of the apex court, adding that the apex court itself became an auditor while examining the matter.

Fawad Hasan Fawad told the court that during the course of the case, he was behind the bars and filed the review petition from jail. He contended that the observations made by the members of the bench in the judgement attributed to him were contrary to the facts.

Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa inquired that when the court issued this decision, which party was in power in the country? Fawad replied that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was in power at that time.

Meanwhile, the court after reviewing the records and hearing the arguments of the petitioner’s lawyers declared that the state TV’s lawyer had admitted in the court that its main decision determined the loss of Rs197,867,491, clarifying that the determination of the amount was not correct. Later, the court after accepting the review petitions disposed of the matter.