PHC stops NAB from AWKUM vice-chancellor’s arrest

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) ruled on Thursday that initiation of various inquiries one after another and then filing of more than one reference against a suspect by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a crime is not acceptable.

The court instead directed that all inquiries should be started at the same time against the suspect.PHC Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel gave the ruling in a writ petition of Abdul Wali Khan University (AWKU) Mardan’s Vice-Chancellor Dr Ihsan Ali. He had sought court’s order to restrain the NAB from arresting and harassing him in another inquiry against him about issuance of scholarships and funds at the university.

The chief justice observed that the NAB nowadays has adopted a novel way against the suspects by starting inquiries one after another and then filing two or three references against one accused in a crime. He felt it amounted to harassing and pressuring the person.

He asked as to why all the inquiries against an accused were not started at the same time. The court stopped the NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from arresting and harassing Dr Ihsan Ali in an inquiry concerning issuance of scholarships and other funds of the university.

The division bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankel and Justice Daud Khan issued the restraining order in the writ petition filed by Dr Ihsan Ali.The court directed the petitioner to join the inquiry and cooperate with the NAB.

Dr Ihsan Ali had filed the writ petition after receiving a call up notice from the NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which had asked him to appear along with record in the inquiry about issuance of scholarships and other funds.

NAB KP Deputy Prosecutor General Jamil Khan said they had received various complaints about illegal issuance of the scholarships and misuse of the university funds.He informed the court that it was a different case in which the NAB had issued a call up notice to the petitioner on June 17. He said the earlier case in which the petitioner had got restraining order form the court was regarding irregularity in appointments in the university.

The petitioner’s lawyer Arshad Ali informed the bench that the high court had already restrained the NAB from the arrest and harassment of his client in an inquiry pertaining to appointments.

He said the NAB should start all the inquiries at the same time against the petitioner. He argued that issuing call up notice to the petitioner time and again in various inquires was nothing but harassment.