PESHAWAR: Issuing a stay order, the Peshawar High Court has suspended orders issued by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly’s secretary to suspend five employees, who are office-bearers of the assembly housing society, and withdraw certain service benefits from them.

A bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel issued notices to the respondents, including the speaker and acting secretary of the assembly, seeking their response to a petition jointly filed by those five employees against their suspension and withdrawal of service benefits.

The petitioners are the office-bearers of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Secretariat Employees Cooperative Housing Society, including Additional Director (Public Relations and Media) Mohammad Abid Ibrar, Deputy Director (Coordination and Protocol) Mushtaq Ahmad, Director (Legislation and Research) Niaz Gul, Additional Director (IT) Hidayat Khan and Deputy Director (IT) Afaq Iqbal.

They requested the court to declare illegal and without lawful authority the impugned disciplinary proceedings initiated against them in their capacity as cabinet members of the housing society for alleged actions arising out of the business of the society, insisting that the same was based on mala fide of acting secretary Wiqar Shah.

Petitioners claim act of assembly secretary against them based on mala fide intent

The petitioners said that those proceedings violated the provisions of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cooperative Societies Act, 1925, especially Section 43, which vested such powers to the registrar of the Cooperative Societies, as the Act was a special law providing a complete code and procedure.

They also requested the court to strike down the impugned notification of Aug 24, 2026, to suspend them and the office orders of Aug 25 and Aug 28 regarding the withdrawal of drivers, official duties and vehicles and stoppage of their session and diet allowances, for being “super structured upon the same impugned proceedings”.

Lawyer Khaled Rahman appeared for the petitioners and said that the society in question was registered under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cooperative Societies Act, 1925, and if any member, including the acting secretary, was aggrieved by any act of the committee, a complaint could be lodged with the registrar of the Society under the law.

He also said that there was a provision about the filing of an appeal against the order of the registrar.

The counsel said that since the matter didn’t pertain to the terms and conditions of the service nor had the petitioners, in any manner, committed any disciplinary act within the meaning of misconduct, as such, the explanation letter followed by suspension was against the law.

Advocate Bashir Khan Wazir appeared for the respondents along with the assembly’s Additional Director (Law), Mushtaq Ahmad.

He contended that the petitioners had allegedly shown exaggerated rates of the land acquired for members of the society and had also committed misconduct, and as such, they’re amenable to disciplinary proceedings.

The counsel for petitioners argued that his clients and other office-bearers had worked for a considerable period to establish the society and resolved issues related to the acquisition of land.

He, however, said that the acting secretary allegedly began raising objections against them and accused them of buying expensive land, committing financial irregularities and demonstrating administrative misconduct.

The lawyer argued that the housing society’s cabinet carried out an extensive search process for selecting suitable land on the basis of properly formulated criteria and finally, in Jan 2024, the members, by a majority of votes, selected the site on the Warsak Road for the proposed project, with a proper schedule for payment at the rate of Rs175,000 per marla.

He said that around Rs380 million had been collected for the housing society on the Warsak Road, so the agreement couldn’t be abandoned. The counsel alleged that the secretary was using administrative powers to pressure the society’s members to do away with the deal.

He added that several meetings were held regarding the society’s affairs, while a fact-finding committee was also constituted to examine the allegations and other issues.

The lawyer, however, said that on Aug 24, the secretary issued a notification initiating action against the cabinet members.

He said the members submitted their resignations, which weren’t accepted and the society was dissolved and the members were suspended from service. Also, proceedings were initiated against them under the Efficiency and Discipline Rules.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2026