PHC orders submission of Ehtesab Commission Act copy

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday directed the Ehtesab Commission to submit a notified copy of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (Amendment) Act 2015 under which legal cover has been given to judicial custody of those arrested in cases of corruption and misuse of power.
A two-member bench comprising of Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Irshad Qaiser issued the directives in a writ and bail petitions filed by the brother of detained Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)’s former provincial minister Ziaullah Afridi. The bench will hear the petitions today.
In one case of illegal mining and illegal appointments, posting and transfers, the high court had on August 24 granted interim bail to Ziaullah Afridi, but he remained in prison on judicial remand in two more cases.
Lawyers Abdul Latif Afridi, Barrister Mudassir Amir and Ishtiaq Ibrahim represented Ziaullah Afridi in the court.
Additional Deputy Prosecutor, General Ehtesab Commission Qazi Babar Irshad represented his organisation in the case.
The lawyers for Ziaullah Afridi submitted that the Ehtesab Commission first claimed that he had been arrested in illegal mining generally and later insisted that he had a hand in illegal mining in Nowshera district.
They pointed out after completion of the period of his physical custody the Ehtesab Commission again obtained his remand in two more cases by alleging that he was involved in illegal mining in Charsadda and Abbottabad. The lawyers questioned whether the Ehtesab Commission wanted to keep him in its custody for his entire life. They argued that their client was falsely implicated in the cases on the basis of malafide intent.
They said that under the Ehtesab Act 2014, a suspect could be remanded in custody of the Ehtesab Commission by the Ehtesab Court for 45 days only.
The argued that their client since his arrest has been in custody of the Ehtesab Commission for 45 days. They pointed out that the Ehtesab Court sent him on judicial remand in two more cases that are similar in nature to the first one.