PHC stops officials’ salaries

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday attached salaries of secretary and director Sports and Culture, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, for non-compliance with the court orders.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Musarrat Hilali issued directives regarding stopping salaries of the top officials for non-compliance with the court orders in a writ petition challenge the decision of the provincial government to convert the acting legend Dilip Kumar’s house into a heritage site.
During hearing of the case, the petitioner’s lawyer Shah Nawaz Khan informed the bench that despite court’s repeated orders the officials were not submitting replies in the case. The petition was filed in the court by Haji Lal Muhammad, in which he claimed that he is the lawful owner of the five-marla house situated in Mohallah Khudad, purchased from Muhammad Badshah and his wife Saeeda Khatoon for Rs515,000 on January 5, 2008.
“The aforementioned house was initially in the ownership of Ghulam Mohiyuddin alias Gul Jee who transferred the said property (deed no 123) on January 26, 1943 for Rs2,000 to Ghulam Sarwar who is the father of Yousaf Khan, also known as Dilip Kumar, the Indian film star,” stated the petition.
It added that Ghulam Sarwar then transferred the property to Muhammad Yaqoob Qureshi on January 29, 1943 via an unregistered deed for Rs 2,000. The house came into the ownership of Muhammad Badshah from his father Qureshi.
In 2012, on the 89th birthday of Dilip Kumar, the provincial government issued a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act 1894 regarding the house. It initially agreed to pay Rs30 million to Haji Lal Muhammad for the house, said the petition.
“After various meetings with the attorney of the petitioner, the government then made an offer of Rs11,224,242 which was then raised to Rs14,246,225. However, the petitioner refused because the market value of the

aforementioned house is more than what the respondents offered,” it said.
Meanwhile, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday summoned the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials for undue interference in the affairs of the provincial government.
A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Abdul Latif Khan issued notices to director general NAB and deputy director NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa directing them to explain in what capacity they were asking a government officer to delete action against a person from the agenda meeting.
The bench issued the directives in a writ petition of the acting DG Galiyat Development Authority (GDA) and secretary Environment and Forests, Syed Nazar Hussain Shah, who claimed that he has received letter from the deputy director NAB, Adnan Abbas, on behalf of the DG NAB KP, in which he asked to delete the encroachment case against Dr Anisur Rehman from the agenda meeting of the Board of Authority, GDA. Muhammad Asghar Khan Kundi, counsel for the petitioner submitted that the DG GDA as per the anti-encroachment drive, issued notice to Dr Anisur Rehman, for his encroachment at Donga Gali and converting residential area into commercial by establishing a café.
He said that the DG GDA had forwarded the case to the Board of Authority, GDA for action, but in the meantime, he received a letter from DG NAB KP asking to drop the case from the Board of Authority meeting, which was intervention in the affairs of the department.
Asghar Kundi added that Dr Anisur Rehman was the personal doctor of the NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry and that was why the DG NAB was asking to drop the case against the doctor.
During the hearing, the chief justice observed that it was the second case that the NAB officials were intervening in the affairs of the provincial government and asking the government officers to appear in the office of the DG NAB, KP. The court asked the NAB officials to submit their comments in 10 days and also appear in person before the court.