PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has issued a stay order suspending a government notification to appoint a “junior” officer as the project director of the New Peshawar Valley, a public sector housing scheme in the provincial capital.

A bench consisting of Justice Sahibzada Asadullah and Justice Wiqar Ahmad issued the order after holding a preliminary hearing into a petition of lawyer Sabahat Ali Bukhari against the appointment of assistant chief of the budget and accounts section at the planning and development department Abdul Wadud Shah (BPS-17) as the project director of New Peshawar Valley on deputation for three years.

It issued notices to the respondents, including the provincial chief secretary, additional chief secretary (P&D), local government secretary, and Peshawar Development Authority’s director general, seeking their response to the petition.

The bench fixed March 28 for the next hearing, declaring that operation of the impugned notification issued on March 7, 2024, would remain suspended until then.

Seeks govt’s response to petition on matter

The petitioner said the impugned notification issued by the ACS (P&D) put the services of Abdul Wadood Shah at the disposal of the local government department for further posting as the project director of the New Peshawar Valley.

He said the project was started in 2010 as “Asfandyar City,” but the name was changed in 2022 to “New Peshawar Valley,” spread over 108,000 kanals of land.

Mr Bukhari contended that the project was to be supervised by the PDA, so the civic agency had the sole responsibility to execute it.

He said foreseeing the workload and importance of the project, certain points were included in PC-I.

The petitioner added that PC-I clearly showed that its project director should be an officer of BPS-18 or BPS-19, but to everyone’s utter surprise, the appointment of a junior officer as the project director was notified.

He insisted that the appointment was illegal and against the relevant rules.

Mr Bukhari pointed out that the PDA had several experienced and skilled officers who should have been appointed as the project director instead of a junior deputationist.

He said the act of the respondents to appoint that deputationist was a violation of the PDA Act, 2017, and the Provincial Urban Development Board Services Rules, 1978.

The petitioner requested the high court to declare the impugned notification illegal, insisting that the order was “arbitrary and based on mala fide intent.”

He also sought the court’s orders for the government not to appoint anyone to the posts to be filled by promoting PDA officers.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2024