Atif moves PHC against ACE’s notices

PESHAWAR: Former provincial minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and Muhammad Atif Khan on Tuesday moved the Peshawar High Court against the notices issued to him by the Anti-Corruption Establishment.

The petition was filed through advocates Shumail Ahmad Butt, Bilal Tangi and Najmus Saleheen.The petitioner has made the provincial government and other authorities as respondents in the petition. The petitioner said that he was a Member National Assembly (MNA) and had previously served as a provincial minister.

The ACE, Khyber Pakhtun- khwa, he said had issued him a notice asking him to submit a reply in the Malam Jabba land scandal.The petition read that another questionnaire was also sent to him, asking for a response regarding the private housing society Fazal Garden in Mardan. According to the petition, the notice related to the Malam Jabba land was issued despite the fact that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had previously conducted an inquiry into the matter and declared everything to be in order and subsequently closed the inquiry.

The petition also mentioned that NAB had submitted its response in the Peshawar High Court, following which the court confirmed NAB’s executive board meeting’s decision and disposed of the case. Advocate Shumail Ahmad Butt said that the petitioner was a person of good repute and was being harassed for political reasons to damage his reputation.

About the ACE notice about the Fazal Garden housing society in Mardan, the petition added that this notice was incorrect because the petitioner neither converted agricultural land into a housing society nor used government funds for its development. The development contract for the housing scheme was awarded to a private firm.

Also, it said that the land in question was purchased by the petitioner’s ancestors from the Nawabs of Mardan in 1964, and four years ago, the agriculture officer of Mardan had confirmed that the land was not agricultural land. The petitioner claimed that despite that the notice was issued solely to target him for political revenge.The petitioner prayed the court that the ACE’s notice should be declared null and void.