K-P spending millions to restore former PEDO chief

Up to Rs10 million has been set aside for legal fees to fight case for Akbar Ayub in SC

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government is ready to spend Rs10 million to restore the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation (PEDO) chief executive officer, who was removed on the orders of the Peshawar High Court (PHC).

In a move to reinstate Akbar Ayub, the PEDO board, during their 18^th meeting on June 9, 2017, approved a budget of Rs8 million to Rs10 million to hire the services of a well-reputed lawyer to plead the case in the Supreme Court (SC).



During the meeting, the board also asked the K-P energy and power secretary to send a summary to the chief minister so that amendments could be made to PEDO’s governing act to facilitate Ayub’s reinstatement.

The K-P government challenged the PHC decision in SC on August 19. The case was filed by K-P Advocate General Abdul Latif Yousafzai.

The K-P government is also hiring the services of veteran lawyer and former Senate chairman Wasim Sajjad to plead the case in the apex court on PEDO’s behalf.  Sajjad has asked for a fee of Rs6.5 million – a copy of the bill is available with The Express Tribune.



An official close to the development confirmed that although the allocation for legal fees has been approved, the money has not been paid yet. When asked to comment on whether or not the government should be spending such large amounts to reinstate Ayub, he said it would “definitely be wrong for the government to spend this much money on the case”.

On June 7, the PHC declared Ayub’s appointment to be in violation of merit and thus illegal. A notification was then issued to void the notification of his appointment. That notification was issued by the K-P government on February 18, 2015. The court also issued orders for the next appointment to be based purely on merit.



According to PEDO official Fazal Rahim’s original petition – based on which Ayub was removed – Ayub is a close associate of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf central leader Asad Umer.

Energy Secretary Naeem Khan was appointed as the ad hoc CEO of the organisation. It has also been reported that PEDO board members such as retired Wapda chief engineer Latif Khan and Naeem had opposed PEDO paying the lawyer’s fees, but the decision was a part of the meeting minutes. Furthermore, it has been reported that PEDO has already paid large sums of money to a private counsel to plead the case in the PHC.

Meanwhile, the K-P cabinet has approved a draft that intends to amend the PEDO Act by loosening the expertise requirements to be appointed as the CEO of the organisation. Currently, the appointed person must be an expert in the field of energy and power. If the amendment is approved, the requirement will be a minimum of 15 years of experience in the fields of law, business, engineering, finance, accounts, economics or power industry. The draft has not been issued yet as the K-P Assembly will not be in session till September 12.