Pak chief justice condemns govt for lack of transparency in spending COVID-19 relief funds

Taking suo motu cognisance, Pakistan's Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmad on Monday lambasted the government over lack of transparency in the money being spent on relief activities to support the people hit by the deadly coronavirus that has claimed 170 lives and infected 8,516 people in the country.

Ahmad made the remarks about the spending of funds during the hearing of a case about the federal and provincial governments' response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A five-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by the chief justice is hearing the case.

All governments (federal and provincial) are spending money for relief but there is no transparency to be seen there is no transparency in any of the steps," the chief justice said.

Prime Minister Imran Khan announced a social protection package of Rs 144 Billion (USD 18.8 billion) to help poor families affected by the pandemic. Under the scheme, 12 million families (72 million individuals) will receive Rs 12,000 each on a monthly basis for four months.

The federal government also gave funds to the provincial governments to help the poor and those badly affected by the lockdown.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial, who is also part of the bench, said that the federal government gave Rs 9 billion to provinces without having any mechanism to ensure that it would be spent fairly.

Monitoring does not affect provincial autonomy. Monitoring is also a form of an audit, Justice Bandial said.

The bench also expressed dissatisfaction over the spending of Zakat money, which is collected by banks annually from the deposits by Muslims.

According to Islam, every Muslim is bound to pay Zakat from his wealth.

Zakat money cannot be used for office expenses. How can charity money be used to give salaries of officials?" Justice Gulzar said.

The top judge asked the Council of Islamic Ideology to give its opinion if the Zakat money can be spent on payment of salaries.

The bench also questioned the quarantine facilities provided by the government and said that people were being charged at isolation centers, ordering that the poor should not be asked to pay.

The bench also heard representatives of provinces about the steps taken to combat the coronavirus and expressed reservations over their performance.

None of the province has provided a report based on transparency, the chief justice remarked.

The hearing of the case has been adjourned for two weeks.