PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Friday directed the provincial government to explain position on the allotment of the Bacha Khan Medical College Mardan’s land for the establishment of the Women University.

Justice Lal Jan Khattak and Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan directed the chief secretary, health, higher education and communication and works secretaries, and chairman of the medical college’s board of governors to file their respective replies about a petition challenging that land allotment by Sept 22.

The direction was issued after Khalid Mehmood, lawyer for petitioner Himayatullah Mayar, who is Mardan’s district nazim, gave preliminary arguments about the petition.

The lawyer said recently, the provincial government had allotted land measuring 300 kanals to the Women University Mardan though the land was already allotted for the Bacha Khan Medical College extension project.

He said work on the medical college extension project was underway and that around 990 kanals of land had been allotted for the purpose.

The lawyer said the college extension project, included the establishment of a burns unit, department of nuclear medicine, neurosurgery department, paramedics institute, nursing college, paraplegic centre and other facilities.

He said while the project’s PC-1 was being made, the government suddenly announced the establishment of the WUM and allotted around 300 kanal of land from that one designated for the medical college’s extension project.

The lawyer said even the college’s board of governors was not taken into confidence about it though its approval was mandatory for such moves.

He requested the court to declare the government’s move illegal and against the rules and order its cancelation.

POLITICAL AGENT SUMMONED: The bench summoned the political agent of Khyber Agency in a contempt of court case regarding delay in a clerk’s appointment.

It also issued a notice to the State and Frontier Regions secretary asking him to explain position in the case.

Ameenur Rehman and Kashif Shahbaz, lawyers for petitioner Abid Shah, said the high court had initially issued an order in 2006 for the administration of Khyber Agency to employ their client as a clerk.

They insisted their client had qualified for the post on merit but was ignored by the administration.

The lawyers said in Oct 2014, their client approached the court again and secured fresh orders for the agency’s administration to appoint him as clerk, but to no avail.

They said the agency’s administration had been committing contempt of the court by flouting its orders on their client’s appointment.

The lawyers said the political agent had promised their client’s appointment but even then, the job was given to another person.

They added that on May 24, the court had issued a show cause notice to the political agent but the latter continued to appoint the petitioner as clerk.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2016