PHC removes district judge over corruption charge

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday removed an additional district and sessions judge of Nowshera district over corruption charges.

"The competent authority, in agreement with the inquiry officer, holds that the corruption charges stand proved against the accused judicial officer and imposed a major penalty of removal from service with immediate effect," said a notification issued by the high court registrar.

The notification said that the high court administration initiated disciplinary proceedings against Additional District and Sessions Judge Zahid Mehmood, the accused officer, under Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules 2011.

"Inquiry Officer Ahmed Sultan Tareen, District and Sessions Judge/Legal Draftsman, PHC, conducted the entire inquiry under prescribed procedure and rules. The accused officer was served with show-cause notice and also heard in person," the high court claimed in the notification.

However, the high court did not explain in the notification that on what kind of corruption charges, the judicial officer was removed from service.

On the other hand, when The News contacted the removed judicial officer, he said that he was innocent, but did not comment on the action by the high court. On August 17, 2018, the PHC had sacked four judges of the district judiciary, including three additional and district sessions judges and one woman civil judge, on charges of corruption and misconduct.

The PHC administrative committee headed by Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth accepted the unconditional resignation of one civil judge of the district judiciary. As per the notifications, the competent authority removed three additional district and sessions judges (BPS-21) Aurangzeb Khan, Naeem Iqbal and Shakeelur Rehman and civil judge Saima Irfan from the service.

The resignation of civil judge Johar Ijaz Ali Shah was accepted. The departmental proceedings against him were dropped after he requested to be allowed to tender unconditional resignation.

On April 29, 2017, the then PHC chief justice and now judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Yahya Afridi, had sacked 13 judicial officers, including a district and sessions' judge, and seven additional district and sessions judges for indiscipline.

Among the removed judicial officers were district and sessions judge Sardar Mohammad Irshad, additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) Malik Amjad Raheem, ADSJ Amjad Makhdoom, ADSJ Riffat Aamir, ADSJ Mohsin Ali Turk, ADSJ Abdul Hakim Hashmi, ADSJ Qaiser Rahim and ADSJ Manzoor Qadir and senior civil judges Safir Qaiser Malik, Adil Akber Khan, Rashid Rauf and Shah Hussain and civil judge Tasawar Hussain.

In March 2011, the former PHC chief justice, now a retired judge of the Supreme Court, Ejaz Afzal, had sent some judges on compulsory retirement including district and sessions judges (DSJs) Fayyazullah Khan, Shahid Naseem Khan and Syed Asghar Shah and ADSJs Faqirur Rehman Jadoon and Sajjad Anwar after charges of corruption were proven against them. However, ADSJ Chitral Asif Nawaz was terminated for unsatisfactory performance.

The allegations levelled against these judicial officers included persistent reputation of being corrupt, adverse entries in annual confidential reports (ACRs) and living beyond their means.