ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has observed that reins of accountability of institutions of the country have to be given to honest, competent and corruption-free officers who should be technically trained. “Otherwise, they (officers) would be held accountable in case of commission of negligence in their duties,” the top court ruled.
In a 5-page judgment authored by Justice Dost Muhammad Khan, the court also said that the officers of accountability institutions should closely supervise the investigation process of corruption cases as it is supposed to be the way to eradicate corruption. It is pertinent to mention here that the top court has already taken suo moto notice over the alleged contraventions and illegalities in appointments of officers within National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
However, it is believed that with such observations along with suo moto notice, the judicial activism seems to be more streamlined against corruption. The top court made these observations in a judgment issued against a petition filed under Article 184 (3) by a merchant of Urea Fertilizer namely Moshin Brothers , wherein he had appealed against Islamabad High Court (IHC) order.
According to the judgment, NAB had accused Mohsin of procuring numerous sacks of Urea fertilizer from government-run fertiliser’s warehouse through a co-accused Bilal Ahmed and Zafar Iqbal and sold out sacks comprising 400 trucks in open market causing millions of loss to the national exchequer.
The judgment further observed that if the fast growing corruption is not eradicated, it would impoverish the bases of economy and the country would suffer irreparable loss. “To get rid of corruption, it is also the duty of superior and special courts to play their dynamic and active role with carein order to eradicate such crimes of corruption. It may not be ignored that individuals of every segment in the society keenly raise their voices against corruption and malpractices but unfortunately, most of them are reluctant to follow the principles of self-accountability which is not less than a national tragedy,” it said. It went on to say that it was the responsibility of government to protect the national exchequer transparently and become active for implementation of prevailing law.
