PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday rejected the petition of de-notified caretaker provincial minister Khushdil Khan Malik against his recent removal from the cabinet.

The petitioner had requested the court to declare the government notification for the withdrawal of his appointment to the cabinet unconstitutional.

The petition’s rejection came in a short order issued by a bench comprising Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Abdul Shakoor after hearing arguments of the de-notified minister.

The petitioner had moved the high court a few days ago requesting it to declare illegal a letter issued by the defence ministry to the KP government about his cabinet appointment and the subsequent government summary for his removal.

The defence secretary had asked the chief secretary to examine if Mr Malik was an employee of the defence ministry at the time of appointment as the caretaker minister, in light of Article 63(k) of the Constitution as well as Rule 16 of the Government Servant Conduct Rule, 1964, which disallow public sector employees from participating in businesses other than government service.

During the pendency of that petition, Mr Malik was de-notified. He filed an application with the court requesting it to declare the notification illegal.

The petitioner claimed that the impugned notification of de-notifying him carried the date of Feb 15 but it was issued on Feb 17.

Mr Malik, who appeared before the court in person, contended that the impugned notification was illegal and unconstitutional as the governor was empowered to remove a provincial minister from his office but not to de-notify him.

He said that his fundamental rights provided in Article 10-A of the Constitution that guaranteed the due process of law had been violated.

The petitioner said that Article 63(k) of the Constitution was not applicable to a caretaker minister as it was related to the disqualification of a person from becoming a member of parliament.

Mr Malik contended that the provincial chief secretary, instead of apprising the defence secretary regarding the queries, illegally moved a summary to the chief minister with an unjustified proposal to de-notify him (petitioner) as the cabinet member.

He said that he wasn’t assigned any portfolio because of that summary, while the other cabinet members were given the charge of ministries through a notification on Feb 1.

The petitioner contended that there was no law for the de-notification of a provincial minister.

An additional advocate general, who appeared for the provincial government, told the court that the petitioner was a serving government servant, so he was not eligible to become the member of a caretaker government.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2023