PESHAWAR, Sept 23: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday dismissed after preliminary hearing a writ petition challenging the appointment of Bank of Khyber's managing director.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Ijaz Afzal and Justice Dost Muhammad Khan observed that the petitioner, Advocate Moazzam Butt, who is provincial information secretary of the PML, was not an aggrieved person in terms of Article 199 of the Constitution of Pakistan.
The petitioner argued that the managing director, Munir Ahmad, had not been appointed in accordance with law as required under section 12 of the Bank of Khyber Act, 1991. He alleged that the appointment was politically motivated.
Mr Butt contended that the Ph.D degree of Munir Ahmad was fake and the US university which had issued it was not accredited. The petitioner held that a person named Mohammad Asghar was unduly interfering in the affairs of the bank.
He referred to various news items published in leading newspapers against the managing director, stating that these items were written by prominent journalists. The bench asked Mr Butt what was the cause of action for him to file the instant petition.
The bench observed that under Article 199 of the Constitution only an aggrieved person could file a writ petition and because he was not an aggrieved in the instant case, he was not entitled to challenge the issue.
Mr Butt contended that it was a public interest case as accounts of hundreds of people were at stake due to the wrong policies of the provincial government. The bench observed that a public interest petition could be filed before the Supreme Court under Article 184 of the Constitution.
The petitioner said that various newspapers had highlighted the wrong doings of the provincial government in the appointment of the managing director. He stated that the board of directors of the bank had conducted an inquiry in the matter of Munir Ahmad and had also cancelled the loan advanced to him for the purchase of a house and car.
The court observed that on the basis of press clippings allegations could not be levelled against an individual. It was observed that an official could not be removed form his post on the basis of news items.
It was added that the bank was allowed by the State Bank of Pakistan to operate and till now no complaint was received by the SBP against the managing director.
The respondents in the petition were Bank of Khyber through the chairman of the board of directors; Munir Ahmad, the bank's MD; Government of NWFP through its chief secretary; SBP through its governor; and government of Pakistan through finance secretary, Islamabad.
