Apex court bars NAB from probing Peshawar BRT project

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday accepted the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s petition and barred the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from investigating the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Peshawar project, a year after the court stopped the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from probing alleged irregularities in the scheme. A three-member bench comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar heard the case and annulled the Peshawar High Court’s 2018 verdict regarding investigations of the BRT project.

The High Court had ordered the NAB to start an inquiry into the BRT project.

During the course of the proceedings, the bench observed that the Peshawar High Court’s decision was based on speculations. Advocate Makhdoom Ali Khan, counsel for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, said the NAB was ordered by the High Court to investigate the project. Justice Bandial observed that the provincial government was accused of spending more funds on the project than what was allocated. The BRT contractor was blacklisted, he added. Makhdoom Ali Khan said the High Court had declared the BRT as an illegal project irrespective of the fact that all of its regulatory procedures were completed by the provincial and federal governments.

The court, after hearing the arguments, accepted the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s plea to stay NAB’s probe. It observed that approvals were obtained from all the competent authorities regarding the BRT project.

Last year, the top court had stopped the FIA from investigating alleged irregularities in the Peshawar BRT project.

In February 2020, the Supreme Court stopped the FIA from investigating alleged irregularities in the project. A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, had heard appeals filed by the government of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Peshawar Development Authority (PDA), challenging the order passed by the Peshawar High Court directing the FIA to conduct an inquiry into different aspects of the BRT project.

The project, built at a cost of Rs70 billion, is a 27.5 kilometre corridor track with 31 stations and seven feeder routes stretching 62km with 146 stops, which is equipped to facilitate thousands of passengers every day.