PHC orders release of DG Mines Department

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday issued the release order of former director general of the Mines Department on bail in cases of misuse of authority and corrupt practices.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Musarrat Hilali granted bail to former DG Mines Department Dr Liaqat Ali after hearing arguments from both the parties.He had been arrested on charges of making illegal postings and transfers and facilitating illegal mining in the province.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (KPEC) had also charged him in other cases. He was accused of facilitating illegal extension in the lease of chromite mines in Charsadda and facilitating illegal mining of phosphate in Abbottabad.

Legal experts said that the release of former DG mines on bail would pave the way for the release of Ziaullah Afridi, an MPA, who was also expelled from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, and was arrested on July 9 when he was the provincial minister for mines, on the same charges.

During the course of hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer Shumail Ahmad Butt argued before the bench that Dr Liaqat Ali was appointed as DG mines on July 2014 and was arrested along with former minister Ziaullah Afridi.

He pointed out that despite the passage of 15 months, the KPEC couldn’t record the statement of a single witness in the four cases against him. He prayed the court to issue the release order of the petitioner on bail as he had spent more than one year in jail without any progress in his case, which was a great injustice.

Opposing his release, the deputy prosecutor general said the petitioner had violated the Mining Concession Rules 2005 in the extension of lease agreement.