Marred by dispute: PHC suspends show-cause notice over phosphate mining

Asks K-P government to submit a report on the issue.

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday issued a stay order against the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government’s show-cause notice to suspend the contract of exploration and excavation of phosphate from a 1,000-acre area in Abbottabad.

A single-member bench comprising Justice Nisar Hussain Khan was informed by petitioner Rukhsana Javed’s counsels, Gohar Ali and Raheela Mughal, that their client acquired four phosphate mines during various auctions in 2000-01 after completing all official requirements.

The defence counsels informed the court the K-P government has now issued a show-cause notice to suspend all of their client’s leasing contracts, alleging that these contracts were received illegally and mining was done without lawful authority.



The petitioner’s lawyers said since a case over the issue is currently under progress in the PHC and opponents of their client have already approached the Supreme Court in this regard, the provincial government’s directive is premature. Suspension of contracts will incur losses worth millions of rupees to the petitioner and the national exchequer along with rendering hundreds of people jobless, they added.

They urged the court that any action on behalf of the provincial government should be stopped until a decision is reached in both courts.

After hearing the preliminary arguments, the court suspended the show-cause notice and sought a report from the provincial government in this regard.

Earlier, on July 12, 2012, the PHC had set aside a K-P government notification which cancelled leasing licences for exploration and excavation of phosphate in Abbottabad.

A two-member bench comprising PHC Chief Justice (CJ) Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Syed Sajjad Hassan Shah were told the provincial government had cancelled a mining licence in July 2011 prior to issuing a show-cause notice.



Atiq Shah and Raheela Mughal, counsels for petitioner Rukhsana Javed, informed the bench that it was mandatory to issue a show-cause notice to the licence holder to submit a reply before suspending or cancelling the licence under the Mining Rule 56 of NWFP (K-P), adding that their licence was cancelled twice without any notice.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2013.