PESHAWAR, Feb 28: The NWFP Local Government Commission has initiated an inquiry against the district nazim of Karak on the charge of overstepping his authority and jurisdiction.

The commission was recently given the task to look into the complaints submitted to caretaker Chief Minister Shamsul Mulk by Karak District Naib Nazim Jan Alam on Jan 1.

The naib nazim had said that under section 38 of the Local Government Ordinance, 2001, the district nazim was the head/principal accounting officer of the district council secretariat. But, he alleged, District Nazim Rehmat Salam Khattak had been violating the rule and had overstepped his authority on various occasions.

He alleged that the nazim had sanctioned funds in various heads of the district council, although he had no such authority. Likewise, he said, the nazim had also directed the executive district officer, finance and planning, not to release funds for the district council secretariat for the second quarter of the current financial year.

The nazim, according to him, had also stopped funding under the Annual Development Programme for Jandri, Sabir Abad, Karak (South) and Latember union councils.

He also accused the nazim of interfering in affairs of the district council secretariat.

Official sources told Dawn that in line with the chief minister’s directives, a member of the Local Government Commission, which regulates affairs of the local bodies, had been tasked to look into the complaints and furnish a report for further action.

When approached, the district nazim claimed that Jan Alam was no more the naib nazim because he had been removed through a no-confidence motion in October last year.

According to him, the district council had unanimously passed a no-confidence motion against Mr Alam and elected Mir Shali Khan, nazim of the Karak Union Council (North), as the caretaker naib nazim.

Mr Alam had moved the court against the resolution, which had given a stay order and restricted the authorities from taking any further action against him.

The nazim said that legally Mr Alam was not a naib nazim, but he was still using the official vehicle and coming to office as usual. He conceded that funds had been suspended for the district council secretariat because of the controversy.

Mr Alam, however, claimed that the no-confidence motion against him had no legal standing because rules had not been followed in passing the resolution, and that was why the court had granted him status quo.

He said the movers of a resolution through which the caretaker naib nazim was elected had committed contempt of court and he had filed a contempt petition in the Peshawar High Court against them. “I’m the naib nazim and convener of the district council, and I’m attending my office as usual,” he said.