PHC stops KPEC from probe into appointments of BoK employees

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday stopped the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (KPEC) from conducting a probe into the appointment of employees and managing directors in the Bank of Khyber (BoK) till the next order of the court.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Ikramullah Khan also suspended the KPEC notice for summoning the record of the BoK about qualification of the present Managing Director Shamsul Qayyum and appointments made by him in the BoK. The bench issued a notice to the KPEC, directing it to submit a reply in the court to the questions raised in the writ petition before the next hearing of the case.

The directives were issued in a writ petition filed by the BoK through its directors, seeking a restraining order to stop the Ehtesab Commission from interfering in the bank affairs. During hearing, the BoK lawyer, Abdul Rauf Rohaila, submitted before the bench that the KPEC had started an inquiry into the BoK affairs.

He informed the bench the first notice was issued to the BoK on March 4, seeking record about the affairs of the bank. The lawyer said the KPEC then issued a second notice to the BoK. The bank was directed to provide the record about qualifications of all the managing directors (MDs) and employees appointed from 2007 to 2016 in the bank.

The lawyer said that the bank had provided all the required record on time. He submitted that the KPEC issued a notice on July 14, asking the bank to provide record about the present MD Shamsul Qayyum and appointments made by him in the bank.

The lawyer added the KPEC continued its “unnecessary interference” in the affairs of the bank and also sought audit accounts report of the bank. The lawyer argued that the KPEC was unnecessarily interfering in the affairs of the bank as the bank had provided all the required record of the bank, in which he claimed no evidence was found against the bank and directors.

Now, he claimed, the commission has started interference in the affairs of the bank by one way or the other and thus badly affecting the affairs of the bank. “The commission should provide any written compliant before the court if any against the bank,” the lawyer submitted. He submitted that issuance of notices one after another was illegal and against the law. The lawyer prayed before the bench to declare the notices as void.