Former Supreme Court Judge Azmat Saeed out of IPPs case.

 The government has replaced him with Justice (R) Maqbool Baqir.

Islamabad:

The PML-N-led coalition government has appointed former Supreme Court judge Sheikh Azmat Saeed as a mediator to settle a Rs 52 billion dispute with 12 Independent Power Producers (IPPs) set up under the 2002 policy. Is nominated He was replaced by another former Supreme Court judge, Maqbool Baqir, who retired on April 4.

Justice (R) Azmat was part of the bench which had declared former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ineligible for life.

PML-N supporters also accuse him of forming a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on WhatsApp in the Panama case.

Justice (R) Azmat was presiding over the bench which had disqualified former PML-N MPA Daniel Aziz in a contempt of court case.

The PTI-led government had recently appointed him head of the Commission of Inquiry in the Broadsheet case. He was also the head of the Commission for Regularization of Housing Societies in Punjab.

A notification issued by the Law Ministry said, "The matter has been discussed at length and given the nature of the work, the quantity of workers involved and the field of expertise involved, Justice (R) Maqbool Baqir." The court of Pakistan has been nominated by the government of Pakistan as arbitrator.

Similarly, the government has added a law firm - AJURIS - to represent it in the arbitration proceedings.

Surprisingly, the ministry did not appoint a law officer to assist in the matter.

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The ministry said there was no need to appoint an additional attorney general as the firm had considerable expertise in handling arbitration matters.

Earlier, the new government was considering Baqir's name for the post of chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). However, his name was removed due to pressure from 'powerful circles'. Even the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) had expressed frustration over the removal of his name due to 'pressure'.

It is learned that IPPs have appointed former Supreme Court Judge Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday as mediator in the case.

Both Ramday and Baqir will nominate a third arbitrator. The appointment of a third arbitrator will be important in this case.

The arbitral tribunal is required to pay an award within six months for alleged overpayments with 12 IPPs under the Power Generation 2002 policy.

The tribunal will complete its work within five months and will issue an award within 30 days of the completion of the hearing.

It has already been reported that in September 2020, the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) constituted an implementation committee headed by the Minister of Energy to implement the formal amendments to various terms and conditions of IPPs. Was

With specific issues of alleged excess profits, surplus savings and illicit profits of some IPPs operating under the 2002 policy, both parties agreed to send the matter to arbitration. Will This was in accordance with the Arbitration Submission Agreement (ASA).