PHC restrains Bara AC from using judicial powers

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday restrained the assistant commissioner of the Bara tehsil of the Khyber district from using judicial powers in a civil case even after the high court had declared the Fata Interim Governance Regulation, 2018 as void and unconstitutional.

Interestingly, the Bara assistant commissioner was using judicial powers under the Fata Interim Governance Regulation 2018, which has already been declared as void by the PHC and restrained the commissioners from using judicial powers.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had challenged the judgment of the high court in Supreme Court of Pakistan through advocate general, but to date, the government had not obtained any stay order in the appeal and the court order is still in the field.

Interestingly, the provincial government had also failed to comply with the PHC judgment to extend regular courts to the tribal districts within 30 days.

The PHC, in another petition, had issued contempt notices to the KP chief minister, governor and the federal government for non-compliance with its judgment.

Currently, legal experts said no law existed in the erstwhile Fata after the repeal of the Frontier Crimes Regulation and high court judgment declaring the Fata Interim Governance Regulation 2018 as void.

A PHC single bench of Justice Muhammad Ayub Khan suspended the notice issued by assistant commissioner Bara to a citizen by using its judicial powers.

The court passed the order in a writ petition by Amin Gul, a resident of Qaum Shalobar, Bara tehsil, Khyber district, against the notice of assistant commissioner Bara, using judicial powers against the decision of the high court.

During the hearing, Shakirullah Afridi, the lawyer for the petitioner submitted before the court that Amin Gul, prior to the abolishment of the FCR, had filed a complaint in the office of the assistant commissioner, Bara against respondent Sadat Khan, wherein he claimed demarcation of the disputed property through the partition.

Later, he said, the assistant commissioner put on notice respondent Sadat and recorded statements in the case.

In the meantime, he argued that the federal government introduced the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, wherein Article 247 (7) of the Constitution was amended through which FCR was repealed.

Thereafter, he said, Fata Interim Governance Regulation 2018, was introduced by the federal government, which was challenged in the high court and the court on October 30, declared the interim regulation as void and unconstitutional.

He submitted that the high court had also given one month time to the provincial government to set up regular courts in tribal districts within one month and after one month, all the orders of commissioners by using judicial powers will be considered illegal and have no legal effect.

The lawyer informed the bench that now the assistant commissioner is going to form a Jirga (council of elders) by using his judicial powers, which the court had already declared illegal and void.