PHC issues notice to KP govt over ACE director’s transfer case

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday issued a notice to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in the transfer case of the director of the Anti-Corruption Establishment.

Ziaullah Khan Toru had claimed that he was transferred after he started investigating the alleged wrongdoing in the “Billion Tree Tsunami Project” of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led provincial government.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Muhammad Daud Khan sought reply from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through chief secretary, secretary establishment and deputy commissioner Peshawar before May 26 when the next hearing in the case would take place.

The court issued the notice in a writ petition by Ziaullah Khan Toru, former director Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) and currently deputy director of Provincial Services Academy.Ziaullah Toru had requested the court to declare his transfer as null and void.

In the petition filed through his lawyer Shakeel Ahmad, he stated that he was an employee of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and his services were required by the provincial government on deputation. He said he was posted as director ACE on May 19, 2014 and assumed the charge on May 21, 2014 and performed his duties with diligence. The petitioner said the chief secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on May 2 issued his transfer order from the post of director ACE and posted him as deputy director Provincial Services Academy with malafide intentions.

He claimed his transfer order was issued when he started inquiry into the purchase and distribution of the “Billion Tree Tsunami Project” on two complaints, one filed by special assistant to the chief minister on environment and another registered by residents of Baghdada area in Mardan against another relative of the chief secretary.

The petitioner stated that his transfer notification was issued by the chief secretary as revenge after he started an inquiry into the contracts given to his brother Arshad Ali Khan, a grade-21 officer, and brother-in-law Jawad.

It was stated that the petitioner has always worked with due diligence and never acted pre-judicial to good order. It claimed that during his posting as director ACE, a handsome amount of Rs1.662 billion was recovered and deposited in the government treasury.

It was stated that the petitioner took drastic steps for reformation and restructuring of the Anti-Corruption Establishment through an office order issued on April 1, 2016 and asked the competent authority to absorb him in the department on permanent basis with other officers on account of his outstanding services. The petitioner stated that the impugned notification on May 2 regarding his transfer is illegal and without jurisdiction and was issued on basis of malafide intention. The petitioner requested the court to suspend the notification till final disposal of the petition and direct the respondents not to take any adverse action against him till the final order.