ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked counsel for former minister water and power Raja Pervez Ashraf to produce relevant document showing government policy for setting up Rental Power Plants (RPPs) in the country.
A two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry told Wasim Sajjad, counsel for the former minister, that if there was a policy for the projects, then he should produce it in writing.
However, on request of the counsel, the bench adjourned hearing till Wednesday.
During course of proceedings, Wasim contended that Rule 42 of Pepra Rules permitted setting up unsolicited plants.
He said that there was problem in power generation and as short term measures, RPPs policy was approved by the former minister in consultation with other stakeholders.
He said that minister could be responsible for approval of policy but its implantation and execution rested with other allied departments.
The chief justice observed that they had nothing to do with policies of the political government but after spending Rs 20 billion, which was taken as loan, hardly 100MW was being produced by three RPPs.
The CJ told him that he should provide the relevant documents which would also put at rest all apprehensions about the deal.
He said when the agreements were carried out, Asian Development Bank report had reached minister’s chamber.
The ADB had raised serious objections to transactions, he added.
The counsel said that the ADB report was filed on their request.
He said many elements in government were involved to execute a policy and when the former minister assumed charge of his office the policy was in place and there were mass protests against the power shortage.
So he continued the policy as short term measure to overcome the power shortage, he added.
He said the problems existed prior to assumption of charge of the office by the former minister.
The chief justice said that they should record that there was no policy.
“Sorry to say you have to pay to RPPs after taking loans on mark up. From 19 RPPs, only three were producing 100MW power,” he added.
He observed that there should be collective and individual responsibility.
Prima facie, the transaction lacked transparency, as you followed the policy of former government without framing your own, he added.
The counsel also admitted that RPPs power generation was costly.
Registrar National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) Syed Safeer Hussain also submitted a report on court’s directive indicating power capacity of RPPs, tariff cost, fuel costs, etc.
The chief justice observed that from these documents inconsistency appeared.
The counsel for NEPRA also admitted that the relevant law in Pakistan was ambiguous as compared to India and Bangladesh.
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