SHC moved against Pechuho’s exemption from court appearance

The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the counsel of former secretary education Dr. Fazalullah Pechuho on Monday to file comments on an application of a schoolteacher who requested the court to ensure the ex-secretary appeared before the trial court in a graft case.

The lawyer for the schoolteacher, who accused Pechuho and others of receiving bribes for the reinstatement of service, submitted that the trial court had allowed the ex-secretary’s application with regard to giving him exemption from appearance at the proceedings.

He said the trial court had adjourned the hearing of the case sine die till the outcome of the quashment Pechuho’s plea pending in the high court. He noted that the SHC had stayed the proceedings of the trial court but observed that the interim order shall not absolve the applicant from attending the trial court on each date though the proceedings before the trial court had been stayed. He requested the court to direct the applicant to appear before the trial court and dismiss the quashment application. The court directed the counsel to submit a reply to the application, and adjourned the hearing till April 24.

Pechuho, who is also a brother-in-law of former president Asif Ali Zardari, along with section officer Abdul Jabbar and junior clerk Iftikhar Hussain, has been charged with allegedly demanding a bribe from the suspended schoolteacher for his restoration in August 2014.

Pechuho, who is currently posted as provincial health secretary, however denied the charges and challenged the proceedings in the SHC. The court had lodged a direct complaint in February 2016 against the then education secretary and two officials after complainant Mithal Lohach moved the court against them after the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) did not entertain his application.

He submitted that he was appointed a primary schoolteacher in 1992 and promoted to high schoolteacher in 2013, but the then education secretary and other respondents suspended 405 teaching and non-teaching staff, including him.

He alleged that Pechuho in connivance with Jabbar and Hussain demanded a bribe of Rs200,000 for his reinstatement and he paid the amount in the presence of some witnesses at a restaurant near the Sindh Secretariat. He stated in the complaint that both the education department employees had again demanded a bribe, but he refused to do so. Then, he said, the respondents issued him with a show-cause notice and extended threats through text messages on his mobile phone.

He further alleged that the former education secretary and others reinstated some suspended employees after taking a huge bribe from them. An anti-corruption court had taken cognizance and registered a direct complaint against Pechuho and two others under sections 161 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 5 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act-II, 1949.