SC questions creation of special secretary’s post in KP

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the creation of a post of special secretary in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and sought replies from provincial chief secretary, secretary law as well as advocate general to explain why the said post has been created in various departments.

A two-member bench of the apex court comprising Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Sardar Tariq Masood took notice of the said issue during the hearing of a bail matter in a criminal case wherein one Khalid Zaman was accused of providing a weapon in a murder case.

The court took notice when a special secretary home-1 appeared before the court instead of secretary home. Justice Qazi Faez Isa asked that they have heard about the post of secretary but not the special secretary.

It is pertinent to mention here that on the last date of hearing, the court had summoned the secretary home as well as advocate general of KP.

On Thursday, the court also sought summary of the post of special secretary created in the provincial government. The court questioned why the Peshawar High Court (PHC) summoned record from the trial court in bail matters.

Justice Faez Isa observed that the high court can only summon the record from trial court for the verification of any document in a case. The counsel in the case submitted that one Khalid Zaman was accused of providing a weapon in the murder case.

The court directed that chief justice PHC examine the matter of summoning the record from the trial court and expected that the PHC CJ will issue appropriate order to judges in this regard.

At the outset of hearing, Justice Qazi Faez Isa asked the advocate general whether there is any mention of the post of special secretary in the Rules of Business.

The advocate general replied in negative to which Justice Faez Isa observed that in order to accommodate blue-eyed people, the provincial government has created the slot of special secretary.

“Whether the KP government is being run with own will instead of law,” Justice Faez Isa questioned, adding that nobody abides by law in Pakistan.

“Create also the posts of platinum, golden as well as silver secretaries,” Justice Faez Isa remarked, adding that the provincial government is not empowered to create the post of special secretary. He said the provincial government is violating its own laws. He while questioning the huge cabinet of the KP government asked the advocate general if he knows the volume of ministers in the first cabinet of Pakistan.

“About four to five ministers,” the advocate general replied, to which Justice Faez Isa asked him to look into the present cabinet of KP as to how many ministers are there.

When the court asked about delay in the trial of the instant matter, it was informed that the case is delayed as record of the case was with the high court.

Counsel for the accused Khalid Zaman told the court that his client had been accused of providing a weapon in the murder case however, he could not reply to the court’s queries.

Later on, the court dismissed as withdrawn the bail application in the matter. The case against the accused has been registered in Takht Nasrati, a place Karak.