Top court issues notice to govt for discontinuing project

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday issued a notice to the provincial government to respond to a petition filed by the employees of an agricultural project, which was discontinued.

A two-member PHC bench comprising Justice Ejaz Anwar and Justice Syed Arshad Ali heard the petition filed by Ahsan, Ayesha and others through Malik Ghulam Mohiuddin Advocate. The bench issued a notice to the Secretary Agriculture to appear before the court at the next hearing to explain his position.

The lawyer for the petitioners told the bench that the government had launched an agriculture project to impart training to the farmers about the modern methods of farming. He said the government had allocated money for the project, but it was not reflected in the Annual Development Programme. The lawyer said the Sindh and Punjab provinces had also launched similar projects that were extended but the KP government discontinued the scheme and fired over 240 project employees, which not only rendered them jobless but also deprived the farmers of training facilities. He requested the court to issue a stay order. The court ordered the government to submit its reply.