PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Wednesday directed the provincial secretaries of local government and planning and development departments to formally respond to a petition filed by MPA Ziaullah Afridi against the dropping of an approved multimillion rupees development scheme of Peshawar.

Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Ikramullah Khan fixed Feb 21 for the next hearing into the petition directing two of the respondents, including the provincial government through planning and development secretary and local government secretary, to file their respective comments within a fortnight.

Lawyer Shumail Ahmad Butt represented the petitioner and additional advocate general Qaiser Ali Shah the government.

Next PHC hearing into MPA’s petition next month

The petitioner has requested the court to declare the dropping of an Annual Development Programme scheme titled ‘Integrated Development Package for Mahal Terai and surrounding areas of Peshawar’ from the ADP 2015-16 and 2016-17 as illegal and unconstitutional.

He said the respondents including the provincial government were bound to allow funds for the said project and work may be initiated in its true letter and spirit.

The respondents in the petition are the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through planning and development secretary; the chief minister through his principal secretary; the local government secretary; Peshawar Town I nazim, and town municipal officer Town I.

The petitioner was a PTI leader elected as MPA from PK-I Peshawar in 2013 general elections. Later, he was made first a special assistant to the chief minister and subsequently a mines and mineral development minister.

The petitioner claimed that he was implicated in a false case by the KP Ehtesab Commission at the behest of some leaders as he was perceived as a potential threat due to his growing popularity.

He was expelled from the PTI by central leadership after he accused some leaders of framing him in false cases.

Lawyer Shumail Butt said for the betterment of the inhabitants of the petitioner’s constituency PK-1, his client had perceived the said developmental scheme.

He said the scheme was part of the provincial budget as ADP Scheme No 782 in 2015-16 and was passed by a definite majority of the provincial assembly’s elected members in line with the provisions of the Constitution.

The lawyer said the ADP scheme consisted of a number of pro-poor social service delivery activities comprising roads, sanitation projects, water supply schemes, school buildings, rehabilitation of streets and roads, which were in deplorable conditions and other services to be identified by the representatives of the said area.

He claimed that for the consultancy of the said project, Rs27.9 million was approved and Rs3.6 million was paid to the Engineering Architecture Consultants for the start of work on the feasibility and designing.

The lawyer added that the consultant after feasibility study submitted PC-I which included water supply, sanitation, roads and filtration plants at the cost of Rs970 million, which was the need of day for the inhabitants of Peshawar.

He claimed that the chief minister without having any authority dropped the said ADP scheme with a single stroke of the pen through an executive order during a ‘so-called’ mid-year review meeting on June 10, 2016.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2017