Unilateral change: PTI-led government faces tough time on judicial front

Decisions taken in several sectors currently being challenged in PHC as people exercise constitutional right.

PESHAWAR:

Decisions taken by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government have been regularly challenged in court by people who are affected by them. As a result, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) has suspended several orders over the last few months. 

When the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) came into power, it had promised to make requisite changes to every department in the province. However, its decisions have come under fire as many people have not shied away from exercising their constitutional right to approach the court to have their grievances addressed.

“The provincial government never takes advice from the people who understand. The PTI is not interested in provincial matters and is focusing on politics at the national level,” former additional advocate general Naveed Akhtar told The Express Tribune.

The government should consult people who can give them suitable advice to work towards the prosperity of the province, he added.

Allotment of land

On February 24, the chief minister presided over an official meeting and said the botanical garden and centre of bio-diversity located in Nowshera should be used to provide land to other universities.

The Peshawar University Teachers’ Association (PUTA) challenged the decision in court. It initially restrained the provincial government from going ahead with the decision. On June 9, the PHC declared the chief minister’s decision illegal.

According to the court’s order, the decision was “unilateral and without the consent of the university” and therefore violated the “principle of natural justice”.

Bifurcation of Kohistan

A former district nazim challenged the provincial government’s decision to bifurcate Kohistan district into two districts. He termed the decision illegal and requested the government to withdraw its decision.  However, by January 6, the K-P government had bifurcated Kohistan into two to carve out one more administrative unit.

The petitioner claimed Kohistan district was created under the Land Revenue Act, 1967. The status of the district from a tribal area to a settled area cannot be altered unless the president consults locals,  he added. On August 28, the court issued notices to the provincial government and the attorney general for Pakistan over the matter.

Rationalising departments

Moreover, the provincial government’s decision to rationalise departments and transfer a significant number of information officers of the K-P Directorate of Information to other departments was challenged in court.

In July, the high court suspended the K-P government’s decision to post 37 information officers to other departments without matching their qualifications.

The order was challenged separately by officers of the directorate. The court suspended the decision of the government.

Other challenges

On September 1, the K-P government took charge of 19 assets of the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) located across the province – including Chitral, Swat, Abbottabad and Naran.

The decision was challenged by PTDC’s managing director and the PHC temporarily stopped the K-P government from moving ahead with the matter. In another case, on August 20 the court suspended the government’s decision to appoint Najiullah Khattak as media adviser of the provincial media cell until further orders.

On August 28, the K-P government withdrew its decision to shift Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) Medical College from Peshawar to Nowshera after the former agriculture minister Arbab Ayub Jan raised the matter with the PHC.

In 2012, the previous Awami National Party-led provincial government approved the construction of ZAB Medical College in Peshawar. It decided the college would allocate 50% of its seats to students on a normal fee and 20% of its seats to foreign students on a self-finance basis. In March 2014, the PTI-led provincial government decided to shift the ZAB Medical College from Peshawar to Nowshera.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2014.