PHC stops KP Ehtesab Courts from deciding cases

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Monday stopped the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Courts from carrying out proceedings and deciding the Ehtesab Commission cases till the next order of the court.
A PHC larger bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, Justice Nisar Hussain, Justice Irshad Qaiser, Justice Syed Afsar Shah and Justice Muhammad Younas Thahim issued the restraining order. The bench was hearing 11 constitutional writ petitions of the same nature. These had challenged various sections of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (KPEC) Act, appointment of KPEC’s director general and establishment of the commission.
Two former provincial ministers, including Ziaullah Afridi who has now been expelled from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s Liaqat Shabab, chief coordinating officer of Kohat District Council Noor Daraz Khattak, who is the father of PTI MPA Gul Sahib Khan, owner of Iqra National University, Obaidur Rehman, Additional Secretary Finance, Imtiaz Ayub, secretary Industries Sajid Khan Jadoon and others have challenged the KPEC Act, formation of the KPEC and its director general’s appointment. The KPEC had arrested the petitioners in different cases of corruption and misuse of power. Some of them are on interim bail while others are still on judicial remand from the Ehtesab Courts.
Legal experts believe the working of the KPEC would be at a standstill after the high court’s stay order restraining the Ehtesab Courts from proceedings in all the cases. The counsels for the petitioners argued that under Article 137 of the Constitution and Federal Legislative List Entry No 55, the federal government was empowered to set up the courts.
They said another major problem faced by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission was the overlapping jurisdiction of other institutions in dealing with the cases of corruption, particularly the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
They submitted that the Ehtesab Courts were functioning against the law and the Constitution and thus they should be stopped from work till decisions were taken in these cases. The lawyers said the KP government had approved the KPEC Act 2014 to stop corruption in the province. Under the act, the KPEC was to be formed first and its members were supposed to appoint the director general of the commission.
They submitted before the bench that the KPEC started inquiries in corruption cases in 2014 and began arresting the suspects in June the same year. However, they pointed out that the provincial government through the chief secretary issued the notification of the formation of the KPEC in September 2014 while the commission had started taking action even before that in June. They stated that arrests before the notification for the formation of the commission were illegal. The lawyers pointed out that the provincial government had appointed the director general directly against the law.
They said as per the KPEC Act, the members of the commission would appoint the director general. They argued that both the formation of the commission and appointment of the director general was illegal and against the law. “Giving retrospective effect to the KPEC Act and empowering the commission to start inquiries in corruption cases since 2004 was in violation of the Constitution as criminal cases cannot be reopened or inquired from old dates,” one of the lawyers argued. The lawyers argued that there was no system of checks and balances in the KPEC. They said it was a one-man commission as only the director general was empowered.
The larger bench was constituted for deciding all the constitutional cases filed against the various sections of the KPEC Act, appointment of KPEC’s director general and establishment of the commission. It will continue hearing the cases on a day-to-day basis.