PESHAWAR, Sept 7: The Charssada district nazim on Thursday requested the Peshawar High Court to suspend an order of the provincial Local Government Commission, freezing presidential grant and suspending development work in the district.

Qazi Mohammad Anwer, who appeared on behalf of the district nazim, Naseer Muhammad Khan, contended that the commission’s order was affecting 49 union councils in the district.

A two-member bench of the high court, comprising Justice Qaim Jan Khan and Justice Hamid Farooq Durrani, fixed Sept 14 for hearing the nazim’s application seeking relief.

The bench was hearing two writ petitions on the issue of Rs100 million presidential grant.

The first petition was filed by Wasif Khan and 22 other district councillors, requesting the high court to declare the execution of the development works through the Citizens Community Boards illegal. They requested that funds should be equally distributed among the union nazims so that they could carry out development work.

The second petition was filed by Naseer Mohammad Khan, challenging the commission’s order.

The provincial local government commission had frozen the funds after receiving complaints from movers of the first petition.

The district nazim contended that the commission was not empowered to freeze the grant as it had been provided by the federal government. The nazim stated that development works were being carried out in accordance with the mechanism provided in a resolution passed by the district council, adding that only the province’s chief executive could set aside that resolution.

The court could not hear the other petition.

Qazi Mohammad Anwer stated that they had also sought interim relief. He requested the court to fix a short date for hearing the application for interim relief, while the main writ petitions could be heard later. The application seeking interim relief will be heard on Sept 14.