Non-payment of fee to lawyers: PHC puts USAID mission director on notice

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has issued notice to Mission Director USAID-Pakistan to explain as why the ongoing projects of the agency shall not be stopped till compliance with the court’s orders.

“Notice be issued to Jerry Bisson, Mission Director USAID that why their ongoing projects shall not be attached,” said an order sheet issued by a single bench headed by Justice Ikramullah Khan.

The court issued the direction in a revision petition filed by lawyers claiming professional fee and other charges against the US-funded agency after providing legal services to the donor of the Upper Fata Livelihood Programme.

The petitioning lawyers submitted that the USAID officials have neither appeared in the court nor submitted reply in the case concerning their professional fee.

The court also issued notice to President of State Bank of Pakistan to provide accounts details of the USAID in different banks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as it wanted to attach the bank accounts due to non-compliance with court’s orders.

The case was filed by Peshawar lawyers Abdul Sattar Khan, Sanaullah Khan and Taimur Khan against the decision of the civil court for not issuing direction to the State Bank of Pakistan to attach the accounts of USAID in Pakistan till recovery of the appellants’ professional fee, per diem, expenditure of the visit to the US, punitive compensation and compound interest on legal fee.

The lawyers requested the court to set aside the civil court decision and issue direction to the State Bank of Pakistan to attach the USAID bank accounts till recovery of their professional fee and other charges.

The lawyers filed four suits for recovery of their legal fee and other charges from March 2013 to October 2013 against the respondents, including Academy for Education Development, the US-based NGO through its chief executive, FHI360 through its president and chief executive officer in the US, and USAID Pakistan through its Mission Director in the US Embassy Islamabad.

In the first suit, appellant Abdul Sattar Khan claimed professional fee of 35,000 US dollars, Sanaullah Khan for 128,000 US dollars and Taimur Khan for 76,800 US dollars.

In the second suit, Sanaullah Khan claimed 1,942 dollars as per diem from the respondents while Taimur Khan sought 1,857 dollars. In the third recovery suit, Sanaullah Khan and Taimur Khan claimed 14,000 US dollars as expenditure on their US visit for pursuing the cases.

In the fourth recovery suit, the three lawyers claimed 150,000 dollars each as punitive compensation/damages against the respondents.

The lawyers submitted before the court that their agreed professional fee had been withheld by the donor of the Upper Fata Livelihood Programme implementer, which in this case is an American NGO, Academy for Educational Development (AED) that had now been acquired by FHI360.

The lawyers contended that regular monthly fee invoices were submitted to the USAID and its contractor AED, but no payment was made to them.