PHC asks NAB to file reference against ex-DRO

PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to file reference against former district revenue officer (DRO) Peshawar in assets case within the next four months.

The two-member bench also refrained the NAB officials from unnecessary interrogation of former DRO Peshawar Riaz Khattak, who had been accused of making assets beyond his known sources of income in 2011. The court issued these instructions in the writ petition filed by Ghazala Riaz through Danyal Asad Chamkani advocate.

The petitioner’s lawyer told the court that the former DRO was accused of making Rs6.8 million assets in 2011, of which he had returned Rs2.3 million while the NAB issued notices to him for not submitting the reaming installments.

The NAB action was challenged in the high court as the NAB was not entitled to recover the amount, he told the court and added that the court declared NAB notice null and void.

The court was informed that the NAB officials could not file reference against the accused within nine years despite Supreme Court orders while he had been harassed on different pretexts.

The two-member bench while deciding the writ ordered the National Accountability Bureau Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to file reference against the former DRO within the next four months.