PHC suspends notification ordering watchmen to perform 24-hour duty

Pesco restrained from collecting sales tax in Pata

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday suspended the provincial government’s notification directing the watchmen of the educational institutions to perform 24-hour duty.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Irshad Qaiser suspended the notification till April 7. It issued notices to the chief secretary and secretary of Education Department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to submit a reply.

The bench suspended the notification in a writ petition filed by Akbar Khan Mohmand, president of All Class-VI Employees Association of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

During the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer Sardar Ali Raza submitted that the provincial government had ordered the watchmen of schools and colleges to perform 24-hour duty in schools and colleges as watchmen, guards and sweepers. He submitted that the government had also directed watchmen to perform duty even on Sundays.

He contended that on one hand the provincial government was making the watchmen perform 24-hour duty and on the other no allowance and incentives were being given to them. The lawyer pointed out that 24-hour duty was against the law and fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Separately, the same bench restrained the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) from collecting 17 percent sales tax on electricity bills of the industrial units located in the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata).

The court stayed the collection and issued notice to the Federal Board of Revenue, Pesco and federal government to submit a reply before next hearing. The writ petition was filed by industrial units from Pata (Malakand division) through lawyer Shumail Ahmad Butt.

The lawyer submitted that the FBR and Pesco cannot collect sales tax in Pata. He said that the President of Pakistan through an amendment to Article 247 of Constitution could issue a notification about taxes in Pata.

He said the Sales Tax Act 1992 and Rules 2007 had not been extended to Pata and thus collection of sales tax in Pata through electricity bills was unlawful, illegal and against Constitution.