PESHAWAR: A senior officer of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday moved the Peshawar High Court seeking orders for the speaker to stop a junior officer from acting as the secretary of the assembly in line with the orders of the KP Services Tribunal.

Senior additional secretary of the assembly Kifayatullah Khan Afridi filed a petition with the high court insisting that the continuation of the service of junior officer Nasrullah Khan as the assembly’s secretary goes against the Dec 10, 2018, judgment of the services tribunal in a case.

He requested the court to direct the assembly’s speaker to stop Mr Nasrullah from working as the secretary. The petitioner also sought orders declaring that the drawing of allowances and benefits by the said officer was uncalled-for and illegal.

He requested the court that as interim relief, the speaker be asked to stop the officer from acting as the secretary for the time being or issuing any order or directive until the final disposal of the petition.

PA officer insists Nasrullah holding office against tribunal’s orders

The respondents in the petition are KP Assembly’s speaker, secretary Nasrullah Khan, and services tribunal through its registrar.

The petition filed through lawyer Ali Azim Afridi said the seniority of Mr Nasrullah was disputed by the then additional secretary, Ghulam Sarwar, before the KP Services Tribunal.

The petitioner said on Sept 14, 2017, the tribunal had decided the issue in favour of Ghulam Sarwar but Mr Nasrullah continued to serve as the secretary.

He said the assembly’s speaker and Mr Nasrullah pursued their appeals in the Supreme Court but they’re dismissed on Aug 28, 2018.

The petitioner said a notification was issued on Sept 7 showing Mr Nasrullah Khan to have been reverted to the position of additional secretary (BPS-20) along with certain other officers.

He said within a month, another notification was issued promoting Mr Nasrullah again as the assembly’s secretary regardless of the fact that the promotion was already challenged by him in the services tribunal.

The petitioner said the services tribunal had accepted his appeal ruling that he had become a victim of nepotism and unholy alliance of the departmental promotion committee.

The services tribunal also held that the respondents without waiting for the decision of the tribunal illegally promoted Mr Nasrullah to the post of secretary.

The petitioner contended that the speaker, being the competent authority, was bound to implement the judgment of the tribunal but he circumvented and bypassed the Constitution and law of the land in that respect.

He said despite the tribunal’s clear orders, Mr Nasrullah was bent on exercising powers at the behest of the assembly’s speaker disregarding its legal ramifications.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2019