ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned hearing of the suo moto action regarding combating the pandemic of coronavirus (COVID-19). 

A five-member larger bench of the court headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Mushir Alam, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Mazhat Alam Khan Miankhel heard the case.

During the course of proceedings, the court expressed concern over non-submission of complete documents of machinery imported by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

The chief justice said that the court in its last three orders had asked the NDMA to produce documents of machinery imported from China but it had not yet submitted the documents of the machinery imported from China for Al-Hafeez company.

Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan asked NDMA to inform that which banking channel was used to import machinery from China. How much duty was paid for machinery imported from China, he asked.

The NDMA representative said that the NDMA did not import machinery from China.

The chief justice said that it was unknown that who owned Al-Hafeez Company.

He observed that the report submitted by NDMA mentioned General Cargo in its report. Commissioner duty had its own tariff, he added.

The chief justice asked where were the documents of income tax, sales tax of machinery imported from China?

The NDMA representative explained that Rs 323,000 duties were paid.

The chief justice said that it was a matter of law enforcement. He asked where were the documents allowing the import of Al-Hafeez company’s machinery?

Justice Ijaz asked where were the details of chartering the plane and its payments?

The Director Admin NDMA said that Al-Hafeez Company’s machinery was not imported by NDMA.

The chief justice observed that NDMA did not take the court orders seriously. He asked why not initiate contempt of court action against NDMA as court orders were ridiculed.

He said that the court would not allow anyone to misuse a single penny.