December 26, 2008	Friday	Zilhaj 27, 1429

PESHAWAR, Dec 25: The NWFP government has appointed a public prosecutor, Saleem Muhammad, as director (legal) of the prosecution service after a controversy over appointment of the previous officer against the said post.

The provincial home department, with which the prosecution service is attached, has issued a notification on Wednesday regarding posting and transfer of 32 public prosecutors across the province.

The said notification also included the appointment of Saleem Muhammad, who was previously serving as assistant director, as director (legal) at the prosecution directorate. The sitting incumbent, Mr Rizwanullah, has been repatriated to the surplus pool of employees. Mr Rizwanullah, an officer of the surplus pool, was appointed as director (legal) in the directorate of prosecution on March 28, 2005.

In Sept 2005 the NWFP Prosecution Service Rules 2005 were notified by the provincial government following which some of the public prosecutors raised objection over the occupation of the said post by Mr Rizwanullah.

They claimed that under Rule 10 (b)(3) of the said rules the post of director (legal) has to be filled by transfer from, amongst the public prosecutors. However, despite their reservations the then incumbent continued to function against the said post till the issuance of the present notification. Last month the NWFP Home Secretary, Fiaz Ahmad Khan Toru, prepared a note for the chief minister on the said issue after appearance of a news item in a newspaper. The home secretary mentioned that the posting of Mr Rizwanullah was about six months before the notification of the prosecution rules.

The secretary stated that the contention that the said officer did not possess the requisite technical expertise could be negated on the grounds that he performed the job of registrar, Labour Appellate Court. However, he added that the matter of fact was that he did not belong to the prosecution service cadre and once the rules were notified he did not qualify to hold the post of director (legal) in the directorate of prosecution.

Meanwhile, the posting of other public prosecutors included: Syed Feroze Shah as Peshawar district public prosecutor (DPP), Arif Bilal as Upper Dir DPP, Attaullah Shah as Lakki Marwat DPP, Jehanzeb Khan as Kohistan DPP and Hafiz Muhammad Haroon as Haripur DPP. Similarly, against vacant posts of public prosecutors in other districts different officers were posted including: Shehzada Khan at Buner, Nusratullah Jan at Peshawar, Syed Naeem at Swat, Kamran Khan Wazir at Bannu, Farmanullah Khan at Kohat, Shehzad Iqbal and Saqib Sultan Jadoon at Abbottabad, Irshadullah at Nowshera, Muhammad Irshad Khilji at Mardan and Muhammad Lataf at Swabi.

Moreover, Arif Khattak has been posted as Kohat DPP, Abdul Wajid as Tank DPP and Bashir Muhammad as Batagram DPP.

Other posted public prosecutors included: Imtiazuddin Mansoor at Bannu, Zulfiqar Ali Khan at Charsadda, Sibghatullah at Mansehra, Fazal Noorani at Lower Dir, Muhammad Zulfiqar at Haripur, Muhammad Ayub at Lakki Marwat, Arifullah Shah at Mardan, Muhammad Jehanzeb at Dera Ismail Khan, Farmanullah at Kohat and Jamshed Khan at Swat.