Justice Nasir declines to conduct Nandipur probe

ISLAMABAD: Justice (R) Nasir Aslam Zahid, who was assigned to hold inquiry into the affairs of the troubled Nandipur power plant about two weeks back, has declined the task, a move that could further upset the PML-N government.
On September 15 Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had ordered inquiry into the closure of and irregularities in the plant and tasked Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid to act as inquiry officer.
In a letter written by Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid on September 19, 2015 to the prime minister’s personal secretary Javaid Aslam and which is exclusively available with The News, Jusice Nasir thanked the prime minister for extending him the opportunity for leading the inquiry, but refused by saying, “Unfortunately, I will have to decline this offer as I am not able to travel frequently and have work commitments in Karachi which I am engaged with on full time basis.”
According to the terms of reference of the inquiry which were communicated to Justice Nasir, he was asked to identify reasons for non-functioning of Nandipur power plant ever since the plant’s successful test run from 23rd July to 6 Aug, 2015.
Besides, he was requested to examine the pace of work on the project since its inception in 2007 in different time periods and indicate & highlight factors & reasons. He was also asked to determine those responsible for the inordinate delay in continued power generation from the plant.
It is worth mentioning that the on September 18, the government under Public Procurement Rules 2004 “emergency clause-42C” handed over the project to Dong Feng, Chinese company which built the project, for a period of six months to make it functional.