CM not authorised to drop cabinet-approved scheme: PHC

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has declared that the chief minister has no authority or discretion to individually disapprove or drop a development scheme from the Annual Development Programme (ADP) once it is approved and assented by the provincial legislature.

In the 15-page judgment released on Friday, a division bench headed by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi set aside the actions of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister of dropping the scheme of former minister Ziaullah Afridi from the ADP.

“The chief minister of a province in his personal capacity does not enjoy any authority to either allocate funds or scrap/drop a developmental scheme by denying funds for its execution,” the bench ruled while quoting judgments of the Supreme Court and high court.

The high court restored the scheme of Ziaullah Afridi, presently a lawmaker from Peshawar, in the ADP for the year 2017-18 and directed the provincial government to place it before the cabinet for approval.

However, the bench pointed out that such reconsideration shall be judicious and based on objective judgment to be duly recorded in writing. “Decisions of the chief minister issued on March 2, 2016 and June 10, 2017 whereby he ordered the ADP scheme 782 to be dropped from ADP for the year 2015-16 were without legal authority and of no legal effect,” the judgment said.

The court declared that to drop or discontinue a development scheme after its approval from the provincial assembly shall vest in the cabinet and the cabinet shall not only is bound to assign reasons but also record plausible justification in writing for dropping any such scheme.

The court disposed of the writ petition of Ziaullah Afridi, a former PTI minister who recently joined PPP.

Shumail Ahmad Butt represented Ziaullah Afridi in the petition, while Advocate General Abdul Latif and Additional Advocate General Waqar Ahmad Khan represented the government.

As per the judgment, the facts of the case are that the petitioner claimed that his scheme No 782 titled “Integrated Development Package for Mahal Terai and surrounding areas of Peshawar” was placed in the ADP 2015 and was duly approved by the provincial assembly in its annual budget of 2015-16 and substantial steps were taken by the provincial government in execution of the scheme. Later, it said the Local Government and Rural Development Department recommended scheme No 782 to the Planning and Development Department to be included in the ADP of 2016-17. However, the scheme was dropped from the ADP on the instruction of the chief minister without approval of the cabinet.

The bench stated that the initial stance of the respondents was illusive as it was claimed that the scheme was dropped by the assembly furing discussion on the provincial budget for 2016-17, but no documents were produced to prove the claims of the respondents. It said the court then asked the government to file better comments in the case. It noted that after seeking a number of adjournments, the provincial government later informed the court that the first comments were incorrect as the scheme was not dropped in the assembly’s budget session.

However, the bench stated that as per the record, the government on June 13, 2016 spent an amount of Rs33,1200,000 through contingent bill that was paid to Engineering Consultants for preparation of PC-1 pursuant to the work order.

After the high court decision, Ziaullah Afridi told The News that the verdict proved that the chief minister had acted against the law and illegally dropped his scheme due to personal grudge.