Involvement of unelected PTI member in uplift schemes unlawful: PHC

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) here Friday declared as unlawful the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister’s direction to the government departments to prepare a PC-1 for electrification schemes in National Assembly constituency NA-3 Peshawar, with consultation and supervision of PTI’s non-elected leader and former MNA Noor Alam Khan.

A two-member bench comprising of Justice Ikramullah Khan and Justice Ghazanfar Khan also passed an order that Noir Alam Khan would not interfere and supervise the electrification schemes in the constituency.

The court passed these directions in a writ petition filed by Arbaz Khan, a neighbourhood councillor of NA-3 through his lawyer Imran Hashtnaghar.

During the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer submitted before the bench that his client is an elected representative of the constituency.

He said the provincial government had approved electrification schemes in the Annual Development Programme for the financial year 2017-18.

He said the chief minister had directed the Pesco chief executive and deputy commissioner Peshawar to prepare demand note, PC-1 and cost estimates for electrification schemes in NA-3 in consultation with the PTI’s Noor Alam Khan, a non-elected politician.

He said the provincial government, under the plan of pre-poll rigging, has given the authority of the schemes to an unelected person in order to affect the outcome of the upcoming general election.

The counsel for the petitioner argued that Arbaz Khan is the elected representative of Neighbourhood 13, Kishwarabad, Hassan Garhi No1, Union Council 5.

The lawyer pointed out that under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2013 execution of ADP schemes is the job of the local and elected representatives.

He said the petitioner and other elected representatives have the right to be consulted in the electrification work in NA-3 Peshawar, but the provincial government bypassed the rules and gave the authority to an unelected person to execute the scheme.

In grounds of the petition, it said that the act of the respondents is illegal and against the law and rules governing the subject matter.

The petitioner requested suspension of work on the scheme and asked the court to direct the respondent officials to start work on the scheme after consultation with the petitioner and elected representatives.

Defending the chief minister’s notification, Additional Advocate General Rab Nawaz submitted that out of Rs165 million, only Rs75 million is being spent on the consultation and supervision of former MNA Noor Alam Khan and the deputy commissioner is the executing agency of the scheme.

During hearing, Justice Ikramullah Khan questioned the additional deputy commissioner as to why the deputy commissioner did not appear in the court. When told that he was attending a meeting, the judge remarked whether the deputy commissioner’s meeting was more important than the court order.