PHC suspends Speaker’s notification

Formation of probe committee

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday suspended the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker’s notification about formation of a probe committee for the show-cause notice to secretary of provincial assembly levelling allegations against him for creating hurdles in complying with his directions allegedly in administrative and financial matters of the Assembly Secretariat.

However, the petitioner secretary claimed in the petition that his only crime was not appointing the favourites of the speaker and had become a hurdle to running the affairs as per the law. For the purpose, he said, the speaker had appointed a special secretary, delegating him all the administrative and financial powers of the secretary of the assembly.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Irshad Qaiser suspended the Speaker KP Assembly Asad Qaiser notification. The bench sought reply from the assembly speaker. He was directed to submit reply and explain his position about the questions raised in the petition by the secretary concerned.

KP Assembly Secretary Imanullah, a BPS-22 official, had filed the petition through his lawyer Muhammad Ijaz Anwar against the speaker’s show-cause notice to him and then appointing an inquiry committee for probing the matter.

The petitioner’s lawyer submitted before the bench that the speaker KP Assembly had issued show-cause notice to secretary provincial assembly, in which he levelled allegations against the secretary.

He submitted that the speaker constituted an inquiry committee on January 18 for probing the allegations. The committee comprised of Syed Imtiaz Qureshi, Minister of Law (chairman), Dr Haider Ali, Parliamentary Secretary, and Dr Amjad Ali, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister (members).

The lawyer said the chairman and the members of the inquiry committee being non-civil servant cannot lawfully be appointed as chairman/members of inquiry committee. He said the notification about formation of the inquiry committee was, therefore, liable to be struck down as was illegal and against the law.

The lawyer argued that the speaker was considering the petitioner as a hurdle to implementation of his directions allegedly in administrative and financial matters of the Assembly Secretariat, but in fact he became a hurdle to (speaker’s) favorite appointment. Therefore, the speaker created a post of special secretary, delegating him all the administrative and financial powers of the secretary of assembly.

He said the petitioner had sensed the situation and applied for earned leave on December 7, 2015 for four months which was duly approved. However, the speaker through a notification issued on January 18, constituted an inquiry committee and a charge sheet containing false and frivolous allegations was issued against the petitioner.

The petitioner was telephonically informed, while he was away from the province, that the charge sheet dated January 18, 2016 had been issued. He received the same on the 25th of this month.

It said in the petition that he came to know that the public representatives of a particular political party and close aides of the speaker had been appointed as chairman and members of the inquiry committee.

The petitioner said under the law they cannot be appointed members of the inquiry committee to probe a disciplinary case against a civil servant in grade-22.

Speaker Provincial Assembly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Syed Imtiaz Qureshi, Minister for Law/chairman of the Committee, Dr Haider Ali, Parliamentary Secretary/member of the Committee, and Dr Amjad Ali, Special Assistant to Chief Minister /member of the committee were made parties to the petition.