PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Monday stopped the National Accountability Bureau, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from arresting former director of Pakistan Tobacco Board Abdul Baseer Khan in a case of the alleged purchase of land for a project at exorbitant rate.

The bench comprising Justice Qaiser Rasheed and Justice Roohul Ameen Khan directed the respondents including the NAB’s chairman and its provincial director general to submit comments in a writ petition filed by the former director against the issuance of a call-up notice to him by the bureau.

The bench fixed Dec 3 for the next hearing into the petition. The petitioner’s lawyer, Malik Ajmal Khan, argued that the petitioner had retired from PTB in 2015 as director research and development.

He said during his posting in Lahore, the PTB had purchased 20 acres of land at Pashin in Balochistan for developing a model research farm.

Abdul Baseer facing charge of buying land for a project at exorbitant rate

“The petitioner was first issued a call-up notice by the NAB, KP, in Sept asking him to appear as witness as the bureau was suspecting that the said land was purchased at exorbitant rate much above the market rate. He had visited the NAB offices and recorded his statement but last month, he was again issued a call-up notice as an accused person,” he said.

The lawyer said the petitioner was not a member of the relevant purchase committee and had no say in the purchase of the said land at high price.

Also, the bench stopped the bureau from arresting six transporters, who were awarded transportation contracts of students and teachers of Working Folk Schools run by the Workers Welfare Board. It directed the NAB to file comments in a writ petition filed by the transporters including Haji Mohammad Arif and others.

Barrister Mudassir Ameer appeared for the petitioners and contended that they had been providing transportation facilities to the employees and students of the said schools since the year 2000. He added that while investigating different issues related to WWB the NAB, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had also started inquiry against the petitioners.

He stated that the NAB had now asked them that they were awarded contracts on higher rates, therefore, they should deposit the excessive amount failing which they would be arrested. He contended that the contracts were not awarded to them on high rates as it was on the same rates as compared to the previous year. He added that the NAB had now been harassing them without any valid justification.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2015