Stop KDA officials’ salaries if retirees can’t be paid in full: SHC

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has taken exception to the Karachi Development Authority’s (KDA) former and present chiefs as well as its director finance for defying the court’s orders in the case pertaining to the payment of outstanding dues to retired KDA employees.

The SHC’s division bench headed by Justice Nadeem Akhtar issued show-cause notices to the KDA’s three former and one present directors general as well as its director finance asking them why contempt-of-court proceedings should not be initiated against them for their wilful disobedience of the court’s orders.

The show-cause notices were issued to former KDA chiefs Dr Syed Saifur Rehman, Asif Ikram and Nasir Abbas Soomro, present DG Qazi Abdul Qadir and Director Finance Atta Abbas. The bench observed that after the perusal of the interim compliance report submitted by the director finance, it was found that the KDA officials had deliberately suppressed and concealed information from the court with regard to the auction of some of the properties of the authority.

The director finance said the KDA officials had submitted the wrong figure of Rs127,315,000 and Rs130,000,000 before the court on March 19 and August 25 with regard to the auction’s proceeds realised by the authority.

He said the KDA was able to collect only an amount of Rs23,741,459 from different sources, including the grant received from the Government of Sindh for the payment of salaries. He added that due to the oversight and the rush of work, even the above amount could not be deposited in the separate account ordered by the court.

He also said that the governing body of the KDA had rejected the proposal submitted before the court in relation to the amount of Rs240,643,910 to be realised by the authority from the successful bidders of the plots auctioned by the KDA in 2017, and the auction of properties could not be held due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He sought until December 31, 2021 for the settlement of pension and other post-retirement benefits and that the finance department be directed to approve the application pending before it for a one-time grant to settle the liability in question.

The court observed that the proposal of settlement of the liability was made after an undertaking given by the KDA chief and the director finance to the court on March 19, 2020, so the governing body has no authority to reject any part of the said proposal or initiate an inquiry.

The bench observed that such an action on the part of the KDA’s governing body clearly amounted to contempt of the court’s orders, and the court’s orders were deliberately not complied with, resulting in the present DG and the director finance exposing themselves to contempt-of-court proceedings.

The court observed that it is unfortunate that the KDA has miserably failed to discharge its statutory obligation and has deprived around 1,000 retired employees from their precious and undeniable fundamental rights.

The bench expressed concern over the affairs of the KDA, observing that there was enough material available on record that the accounts of the authority were not being kept or managed in accordance with the law and that there was no coordination at all among the officers and departments.

The court questioned the competence of the director finance, observing that he had only a graduation degree in the field of arts but had no educational qualification or experience relating to finance or accounting.

The bench observed that the record shows that the KDA’s chiefs are replaced every few months, as three replacements have been made in only the past seven months during the time the petition has been pending in the court.

The court observed that the facts alone are sufficient to show the pathetic state of affairs and management in the KDA, and it is apparent that the officials of the authority neither have the competence to comply with the orders of the court nor do they have any intention to do so, which is why they cannot be trusted.

The bench appointed the official assignee of the court as commissioner to ensure compliance with the court’s orders within the stipulated time by taking over the separate bank account opened by the KDA in pursuance of the court’s directives.

The court directed the official assignee to comply with the court’s orders with regard to the payment of the outstanding post-retirement benefits to all the retired employees by December 31.

The bench observed that in case the outstanding amount could not be collected or paid to the retired employees, the salaries of the present employees of the KDA starting from the top will be stopped without any further orders of the court.

The court said that the salaries are to remain stopped until the outstanding amount is paid to the retired KDA employees. The bench directed the provincial law officer to submit a compliance report by November 21.

Former KDA chief Ikram had earlier told the court that Rs130 million had been released by the authority after selling some of its properties, undertaking that the full amount, which was put in separate bank accounts of the KDA in pursuance of the court’s order, would be disbursed to the widows of the retired employees before the next date of hearing.

He had undertaken that after the payment of the post-retirement benefits to all the widows, any remaining amount would be disbursed on a pro rata (in proportion) basis for the payment of benefits to the retired employees according to their date of retirement, and that priority would be given to those who had retired earlier than others.