Peshawar High Court. PHOTO: PPI
PESHAWAR:
The Peshawar High Court has ordered the release of three people arrested in a Kohat land scam and one in a Hayatabad land scam on bail. The accused had earlier been arrested by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Irshad Qaiser had heard the arguments on Thursday regarding bail and the illegal custody of some officials. The court announced its reserved judgement on Friday.
Kohat land grabbing
The court sought replies from Ehtesab Commission on the custody of a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MPA’s father Noor Daraz Khattak who is the Kohat chief municipal coordinator. Noor Daraz was arrested on April 17 with four others.
Aminur Rehman, Noor Daraz’s lawyer, told the court the National Accountability Bureau was also conducting an investigation into the case. Rehman questioned how two agencies could simultaneously look into the same case.
The commission told the court that during investigation it learnt Noor Daraz was the principal beneficiary in the forced takeover of over 150 kanals of land worth Rs250 million in Moza Jarma, Kohat.
However, Muhammad Ayaz, counsel for the others arrested, told the court patwari Kamran, tehsildar Muhammad Ghulam and Taj Muhammad had no role in the corruption.
Hayatabad land purchase
Shumail Ahmad Butt, counsel for Iqra University CEO Obaidur Rehman, told the court his client was arrested on May 29 in a case related to the illegal purchase of land in Hayatabad.
Butt said NAB had conducted an enquiry in the same case which went to the high court. The court had found no corrupt practices were used during the purchase of said land.
After hearing the arguments in both cases, the PHC granted bail to patwari Kamran, tehsildar Muhammad Ghulam, beneficiary Taj Muhammad as well as Iqra University CEO Obaidur Rehman.
Other cases
The court also sought comments from the Ehtesab Commission regarding the cases of Liaquat Shabab, Additional Finance Secretary Imtiaz Ayub and Masoom Shah.
Muhammad Ayaz Khan and Qazi Jawad Ihsanullah told the court the commission had arrested Ayub on May 26 for his involvement in illegal appointments when he was the director at the provincial social welfare department. Ihsanullah added Ayub is currently working on BPS-19 as the additional finance secretary and there was no record of any such appointments made by him. A committee had conducted interviews of candidates and forwarded the shortlist to his client, who approved it.
The court also extended the previous order, stating the commission should not harass Syed Masoom Shah, who was an adviser to former chief minister Amir Haider Hoti. Proceedings had begun against Shah on suspicion that he had illegal assets.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 13th, 2015.
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