PESHAWAR, July 22: Accepting 29 identical writ petitions, a two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court on Monday ruled that the Public Accounts Committee had no powers to penalise a public servant.

The bench, comprising Justice Khalida Rachied and Justice Abdur Rauf Lughmani, set aside the notices of recovery issued to different government servants by the PAC.

The bench had reserved judgments in these cases on different dates during the months of April and May. Justice Malik Hamid Saeed pronounced the judgment in these petitions as the members of the concerned bench are on vacation.

The petitioners, belonging to different government departments, had contended that the NWFP Public Accounts Committee was only a recommendatory body and had no authority to impose penalty on a government servant. They stated that the PAC had no legal powers to penalise a civil servant.

The petitioners counsel contended that the PAC overstepped its jurisdiction in issuing directives against the petitioners. They said the committee took up for discussion Auditor General Reports for the year 1994-95 and instead of putting forward its recommendations it issued directives for recovery of different amounts from the petitioners.

The petitioners claimed that the PAC was not an executive body and it could only draw the attention of the department concerned towards an irregularity.

They claimed that in some of the cases the petitioners were exonerated by the secretary concerned after an initial inquiry, but despite that notices were served on them for recovery of different amounts. Even in some of the cases, the petitioners claimed, the committee had issued directives for registration of cases against officers who failed to deposit the amount within a specific time.

The DAG, Tariq Jawed, who had represented the provincial government, had stated that under Article 171 of the Constitution the reports of Auditor General pertaining to accounts of a province should be submitted before the provincial assembly. He said the PAC was established under Rules of Business of the assembly and it was a competent body to make decisions on the reports of auditor-general.