PESHAWAR: The appointment of a National Accountability Bureau official to a key post of director at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission on deputation was challenged in the Peshawar High Court on Monday.

A resident of Peshawar, Mohsin Javed, filed a petition with the court seeking orders to declare the assumption of the charge by the deputy director of NAB, Ziaullah Toru, as director at the KPEC’s internal monitoring and public complaint wing illegal and without lawful authority.

The petitioner has challenged the Apr 12, 2017, letter of the KPEC chief commissioner written to the NAB chairman to seek the services of Mr Toru on deputation and the Apr 20 NAB notification putting Mr Toru at the commission’s disposal for three years.

Besides requesting the court to declare those letter and notification illegal and without lawful authority, he also prayed the court to ask Mr Toru under what authority of law he held the office of the KPEC director (internal monitoring) especially when he didn’t fulfil the criterion mentioned in Section 16 of the KPEC Act 2014.

The petitioner prayed the court to direct the KPEC to invite applications from public at large through daily newspapers and appoint qualified person for the said post.

Petitioner insists Ehtesab commissioners, DG suppressed criteria for Toru’s appointment

Respondents in the petition are the provincial government through chief secretary, establishment department secretary, law secretary, KPEC through the chief Ehtesab commissioner, KPEC director general, NAB through its chairman, NAB KP director general, and Ziaullah Toru.

The petition filed through lawyer Syed Haziq Ali Shah said the post of the director at the internal monitoring and public complaints wing has fallen vacant on Mar 23, 2017, after the completion of two years’ tenure of the then incumbent, Tariq Khan.

The petitioner said the said post was of BPS-20 and that under Section 16(1A) of the KPEC Act, no person would be appointed as the director (internal monitoring) unless he had at least master’s degree or equivalent qualification with 15 years’ experience with monitoring or investigation.

He said to his surprise, the respondent, Mr Toru, who is serving in the NAB in BPS-18 as deputy director, had been recommended by the KPEC for the said position.

The petitioner claimed that the KPEC Ehtesab commissioners and director general had ‘maliciously’ planned to appoint Mr Toru as director (internal monitoring) in the KPEC by passing and suppressing the settled criteria laid down in the Act without inviting the public-at-large through public advertisement in the newspapers and following criteria in transparent manner.

He said the post being a statutory one should be advertised in line with the relevant law.

The petitioner claimed that even the Balochistan High Court, through a judgment on Oct 22, 2012, had declared Mr Toru unfit to be assigned any inquiry or investigation, while certain inquiries had been initiated against him, which were lying with the office of the provincial establishment department’s secretary.

The petitioner said by issuing the impugned letter and notification respectively, the KPEC and NAB had exercised the powers not vested in them under the law.

He asked how an official of BPS-18 could be appointed to a position of BPS-20 in light of the Esta Code (Establishment Code).

Earlier, the services of Mr Toru were placed at the disposal of the KP government.

He served as the director of the anti-corruption establishment until Jul 2016 when he was repatriated on the completion of three-year deputation period.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2017