PESHAWAR, April 10: Accepting 11 identical writ petitions, the Peshawar High Court on Wednesday ruled that the district Nazim had no legal authority to issue detention orders of a person under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan and Justice Qazi Ahsanullah Qureshi set aside orders of Charssada district Nazim, Naseer Khan, through which he had ordered detention of a landlord of Charssada, Muhammad Younas Khan, his two sons and 8 tenants and relatives.

The petitioner, Younas Khan, had claimed that the Nazim was son-in-law of his brother Muhammad Yaqub Khan, popularly known as Chacha Khan, with whom he was having a domestic dispute.

To settle scores with the petitioner, he claimed the Nazim overstepped his jurisdiction and issued his detention orders at the behest of his father-in-law.

Senior advocate Qazi Muhammad Jamil appeared for the Nazim and contended that he was empowered under section 3 of the MPO to issue detention orders of a person keeping in view law and order situation in the area.

He referred to amendments introduced in the MPO last year, arguing that after abolishing the office of the district magistrate the said powers were assigned to the Nazim.

Mr Jamil claimed that the law was not used in an arbitrary manner, as the Nazim had applied it on the recommendation of the Superintendent of Police, Charssada.

Additional Advocate General, Imtiaz Ahmad conceded that the Nazim had no authority under the MPO to issue the said detention order. He contended that under section 26 of the MPO the government had to issue a notification for delegating powers under section 3 of the ordinance. He added that till now, no such notification had been issued which could empower the district Nazim to enjoy powers under the ordinance.

Petitioners’ counsel Mian Fasihul Mulk argued that the Nazim exercised powers under the MPO in an arbitrary manner so as to settle his family dispute.