ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court ordered the governments in all four provinces to submit details of luxury vehicles under their use within 10 days.
A three-judge bench of the top court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, passed the order while hearing a case pertaining to luxury cars.
Justice Nisar directed the authorities concerned to put the recovered vehicles in the government’s surplus pool, instead of auctioning them off straightaway.
During the hearing, the additional advocate general of Punjab informed the court that 201 luxury cars were recovered from the Punjab government, including 38 that were in excess.
The Punjab government’s counsel informed the court that 22 vehicles would be auctioned out of these 38. To this, the CJP remarked, “Why shouldn’t we task agencies with probing the luxury vehicles case!”
The chief justice also inquired about the 598 vehicles recovered from the Sindh government. “Eligibility criteria over entitlement of luxury vehicles must be determined,” he said.
Justice Nisar further asked the Punjab government’s counsel as to who decided to return these vehicles to their parent companies. “The former chief minister was part of the boards of all these companies,” he said. “Has the incumbent government made any policy regarding this?”
Responding to the CJP’s query, the counsel said that the decision was made by the incumbent government.
The top judge went on to say that expensive Land Cruisers are used by grade 17 and 18 officers. “If the Supreme Court didn’t intervene, the two Land Cruisers owned by the director of Saaf Pani Company would have been made bullet-proof up till now,” he added.
The Punjab government’s lawyer also told the court that 163 cars had been returned to the relevant departments which include public-limited companies.
To this, the chief justice questioned, “Are the companies liable to receive these cars?”
The hearing was later adjourned.
