PHC grants status quo in furniture procurement case

PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday granted status quo against procurement of furniture for elementary and secondary schools and directed the Directorate of Elementary& Secondary Education (E&SE) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to submit comments.

The two-member PHC bench comprising Justice Shakeel Ahmad and Justice Naeem Anwar directed the authorities to stop the procurement process till further order.

The writ petition was filed by social workers including Hayat Shah, Ghufran Ali and Niaz Muhammad Khan against Directorate of E&SE, EPA and government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while Barrister Ibrahim Khan Afridi is advocate in the case.

Barrister Ibrahim Khan said that E&SE Department had issued an advertisement for the procurement of furniture for schools of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on March 19, demanding furniture made from Shisham tree, which is an environmentally-friendly but also endangered species.