PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Monday sought reply from secretary Home and Tribal Affairs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, seeking explanation for banning a non-government organisation, PAIMAN Alumni Trust activities and capping its ongoing 83 projects.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Abdul Shakoor put on notice the secretary to submit reply in the writ petition which had challenged the ban on the activities of the trust and ongoing schemes in the province without citing any reason.
During the course of hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer, Aminur Rehman Yousafzai, submitted that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home and Tribal Affairs Department on April 18, last year issued letters to all deputy commissioners of the province informing them that the activities of PAIMAN Alumni Trust have been banned in the province with immediate effect. He submitted that the petitioner had been aggrieved by the official letter issued on April 18. The petitioner approached secretary Home and Tribal Affairs and requested for grant of opportunity of hearing so as to know reasons of such a harsh decision, but to no avail.
In the grounds to the petition, it was submitted that petitioner was a trust and a registered entity, functioning in all parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Fata and rest of the country. It was submitted that the trust was functioning strictly in accordance with the law governing the subject and unflinching confidence of respondents was evident from the memorandum of understanding issued on November 14, 2014 and more than 42 NOCs/extensions already executed and granted by both the federal and provincial governments.
It was submitted that lawful activities of the trust, including 83 ongoing projects were near completion but these were put on hold by Home and Tribal Affairs Department through an official order without care and caution of its legal consequences, which had caused grave miscarriage of justice.
The petitioner claimed that the respondent department had no lawful authority to either ban activities of the trust in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa without mentioning reasons of imposing major penalty. The petitioner further submitted that not only the trust is suffering due to the decision, but the welfare of 250 families and employees of 15 offices were also being adversely affected.
The petitioner prayed the court to declare the impugned decision to ban activities of the trust without lawful jurisdiction and order the respondents to allow ongoing projects in accordance with law.The bench fixed August 3 for next hearing of the case.
