PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government amended the Ehtesab Commission Act in an effort to give legal cover to judicial custody of the suspects arrested on charges of corruption and misuse of authority. After the amendments, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission has the authority to file a petition for recalling the interim bails of suspects released by the Peshawar High Court on the point that there was no legal cover or backing to judicial custody of the suspects in the Ehtesab Commission Act. It was stated in the amended Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (Amendment) Act, 2015 that the amendments made to this Act shall be deemed to have come into force from January 1, 2004. Several of the accused, including former PPP provincial minister Liaqat Shabab, chief coordination officer of District Council Kohat Noor Daraz Khattak who is father of PTI MPA Gul Sahib Khan, Additional Secretary Finance Imtiaz Ayub and others, got the benefit of lack of legal cover to the judicial custody in the Act and managed their release on bail from the Peshawar High Court. An official of the Ehtesab Commission who requested anonymity told The News that they would file petition in the high court for recalling the bails of the accused who have already been released. Like the other key suspects, it has now become difficult for the former PTI minister Ziaullah Afridi to be released on bail as he would be in no position to point out that his judicial custody was illegal. Prior to the amendments, the high court granted bail after the suspects pointed out that their judicial custody was illegal as it had no legal cover in the Ehtesab Commission Act. On the other hand, the Ehtesab Commission obtained the physical remand of the former PTI minister in one case or the other regarding illegal mining so that he is unable to get released on bail from the Peshawar High Court. The provincial government made about 17 amendments to the Ehtesab Commission Act. It was stated in the amended Act that the administrative judge of the court may confer his duties of urgent nature to the next senior judge of court when he is unavoidably absent or on leave or incapable of acting. Furthermore, it was stated that if all judges of the Ehtesab Court were unavoidably absent or were on leave or incapable of acting, the administrative judge of the court may confer duties of urgent nature to sessions judge having territorial jurisdiction. Under the Act, it said that in exigencies, which required immediate action, the director general of the Ehtesab Commission or an officer duly authorised by him, may declare and notify any place to be a police station or a sub-jail for the purpose of arrest or efficient investigation in the interest of justice. About procedure for trial, it said that each matter brought before the court under this Act shall be disposed of within three months from the date of reference being made. After framing charges against the accused, the court shall hear the case on day-to-day basis. It said that the court shall not grant any party more than one adjournment during pendency of the matter from filing of reference till its disposal and the adjournment shall not be more than seven days. It said that a person accused of more offenses than one of the same kind committed during the space of any number of years, from the first to the last of such offenses, may be charged with and tried at one trial for any number of such offenses.
