Officials summoned in Balakot tehsil presiding officer case

MANSEHRA: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court’s Abbottabad circuit on Thursday summoned Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local governments and other respondents to appear before it in the selection case of Balakot Tehsil presiding officer.

After hearing arguments by petitioner’s counsel Munir Hussain Lughmani, the bench comprising Justice Mian Kamran Hayat Miankhel and Justice Ijaz Ahmad Khan Sabbi served notices for a short date to the Khyber Pakhtunkwa government, provincial secretary local governments, tehsil chairman, tehsil municipal officer and presiding officer of Balakot.

A group of Balakot Tehsil council members led by Sajid Khan, Mohammad Mahroof Awan and Ishfaq Khan had moved a writ petition earlier this week at the Abbottabad circuit bench.

“Since the KP Assembly amended the LG Act 2013 in 2022 and set earlier selection process of presiding officer aside empowering the Election Commission of Pakistan to formally elect one of the councillors through voting, nobody could be brought to this office through a selection process,” Munir Hussain Lughmani, the counsel of petitioners, told reporters. He said the Balakot Tehsil chairman Ibrahim Shah in violation of the LG Act 2013, illegally got selected Liaqat Khassan as the presiding officer.