PESHAWAR: The functioning of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission continues to be marred by controversies as the provincial assembly’s speaker on Monday convened a meeting of the Legislative Committee on Governance and Accountability (LCGA) on Jan 25 to look into a complaint of an ‘under-inquiry’ officer of the commission seeking removal of the five Ehtesab commissioners.

PA Speaker Asad Qaisar, who is chairman of the legislative committee, had received the complaint early this month from an additional director (investigation) of the commission, retired major Sardar Ahsan Alam, under sections 5(3)(e) and 23(2) of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (KPEC) Act 2014, who has charged the commissioners of corrupt practices.

An official of the provincial assembly confirmed to Dawn that the speaker had convened the meeting on Jan 25 for deciding fate of the said complaint.

Few weeks ago, the five commissioners including the chief Ehtesab commissioner had asked the commission’s director internal monitoring and public complaint wing to conduct an inquiry against Ahsan regarding allegations levelled by former MNA Sardar Mushtaq of framing him in a false case on political grounds.

Governance, accountability panel to examine complaint of corrupt practices

Sardar Mushtaq was arrested by the KPEC on Sept 30 on charges of selling his land on exorbitant rates for a project of the Workers Welfare Board (WWB). He was granted bail by a Peshawar High Court bench on Oct 5, 2016, on the condition of furnishing two surety bonds of Rs1 million each.

In his petition before the high court, Sardar Mushtaq had levelled various allegations against Ahsan claiming that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had already conducted an inquiry into the matter and had closed it as the charges weren’t proved against him.

He alleged that Ahsan had contested provincial assembly election from PK-51 Haripur-III in 2013 and lost it and that he believed that Sardar Mushtaq was instrumental in his defeat.

The five commissioners, including Chief Ehtesab Commissioner retired judge Hamid Farooq Durrani and commissioners Sarwat Jehan, Sahibzada Khursheed Ahmad, Mumtaz Ali Khan and retired colonel Wahid Jan Abbasi, were appointed on Aug 20, 2014, by the provincial government on the recommendation of a search and scrutiny committee and confirmed by the legislative committee.

In his complaint, Ahsan has requested the legislative committee to remove the commissioners from office under section 5 (3) (e) of KPEC Act for the acts of corruption and corrupt practices and they be put to trial as per section 23 (2) of the Act.

Under Section 5(3)(e) the legislative committee, comprising members from both treasury and opposition, is empowered to inquire into any allegation of abuse of authority or misconduct by the commissioners on a complaint received from the general public or through director internal monitoring and public complaints wing, and if found guilty, may be removed from office in the manner applicable to a judge of a high court up on a reference made by the governor.

A legal expert said as under the Constitution a judge of the high court could only be removed by the Supreme Judicial Council, therefore, the commissioners could also only be removed by the said judicial council.

Similarly, under Section 23(2) a commissioner shall be deemed to have committed the offence of corruption or corrupt practices, if he attempts to engage directly or indirectly with an accused or other party involved with a complaint or otherwise influence the conduct or an investigation or prosecution being undertaken by the commission: provided that no investigation against a commissioner shall be initiated without permission in writing approved by the Legislative Committee with a two-third majority votes.

Complainant Ahsan was initially appointed as principal staff officer to the then director general, retired Lt. General Hamid Khan, and was subsequently appointed as additional director (investigation).

In the complaint, he said at this stage when serious investigations were being carried against Sardar Mushtaq, any reliance on his false allegations, which are still sub judice, may cause prejudice to the investigation against him.

One of the commissioners told Dawn that under section 9 (i) they can inquire into any allegations of corruption and corrupt practices within the directorate general or any officer or employee of the directorate and pass appropriate order in that regard.

He refuted the allegations of mala fide on part of commissioners against Ahsan stating that if they had any bad intentions they would have conducted inquiry themselves, but in the instant case they had referred it to the director internal monitoring wing.

Since its creation in 2014 the commission is marred by different controversies. Last year its director general, retired Lt-General Hamid Khan had resigned after amendments were made in the law which he had termed as clipping his wings.

It has been facing another major controversy as MPA Ziaullah Afridi, who was arrested on different charges, had charged an investigation officer of having links with the chief minister and had also produced certain pictures in the assembly wherein the said officer was shown with the chief minister.

Published in Dawn January 24th, 2017