PESHAWAR: The provincial assembly on Friday amended the law to empower the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission to deal with corruption cases against the holders of public offices during the last over a decade.

The house passed the KPEC (Amendment) Bill 2015 through which certain changes were made to the KPEC Act 2014.

Officials told Dawn that under the KPEC Act 2014, there were certain ambiguities about the powers of the Ehtesab Commission.

“Originally, it was stated that the law would come in force at once, which meant that the commission could only dealt with cases occurring after it came into existence and not earlier. However, now after the introduction of this amendment, the commission is in a position to deal with corruption cases from Jan 1, 2004 onwards,” an official said.

The assembly has now replaced Section 1 of the Sub-Section 3 of the Act.

The new Sub-Section 3 states: “It shall come into force at once, except the provisions relating to establishment of the commission and Court and provisions relating to the powers and functions of the Commission, Court, Director General, Prosecutor General and all other staff involved in the investigation of a case under this Act shall be deemed to have taken effect from 1st January.”

PA amends law to end ambiguity about powers of accountability body

The amendment bill tabled by law minister Imtiaz Shahid was passed by the house unanimously.

Earlier, during the question hour, opposition MPA Ruqaya Hina drew the house’s attention towards the government’s failure to operationalise a solid waste plant in Abbottabad.

“The solid waste plant was established four years ago but the local government and rural development department has so far failed to make it operational,” she said.

Supporting the mover, another opposition MPA Amna Sardar said she raised the issue in the house in 2013 but to no avail as the relevant department didn’t take action against those responsible for non-functioning of the plant.

She demanded probe into the matter and strict punishment for the responsible people.

Local government and rural development minister Inayatullah Khan confirmed that the solid waste plant was established a few years back but it couldn’t be functional when Pakistan State Oil (PSO), a partner of the provincial government, backtracked from the agreement.

He said under agreement, both the provincial government and PSO had to provide Rs46 million to operational the plant.

The minister said the government provided its share of Rs23 million, while the PSO failed to do so in violation of the agreement.

“We will double the government share to run the plant,” he said.

Inayatullah Khan announced the holding of an departmental inquiry on the floor of the house to probe the matter. He said LGRD special secretary Asghar Ali would head the inquiry committee.

Speaking on a point of order, PTI MPA Javed Naseem said Peshawarites had to drink contaminated water as supply pipes rusted and leaked.

He said water pipes also passed through drains and thus causing the spread of waterborne diseases.

The house also passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015.

Speaker Asad Qaisar adjourned the session until Monday.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2015

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