PESHAWAR, Nov 15: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday gave the last chance to the Peshawar district coordination officer (DCO), the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) director general and the Khyber Agency political agent to settle a dispute between the government and Kukikhel tribesmen over a vast piece of land in Regi Lalma Township, saying the matter should be resolved until the next hearing on Dec 20 otherwise the three would be dealt with strictly.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Irshad Qaiser expressed anger over the absence of the said three officials in the case and directed them to appear in person on the next hearing.

The bench observed that on July 4, 2012, the said officials were told to submit final report on the settlement of the dispute between PDA and Kukikhel tribesmen, which had been delaying development work in Regi Lalma Township, but the said report had yet to be produced.

Scores of tribesmen showed up along with their lawyer, Abdul Lateef Afridi, who said one important development was that the tribesmen had agreed that land measuring 7,000 kanals might be taken over for the project after agreement on its price.

He said the land was located beyond Griffith Line, the official demarcation between Peshawar and Khyber Agency.

Mr Afridi said it was a historical line as it was drawn in 1912 by the deputy commissioner of Peshawar and the political agent of Khyber agency.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by Allottees of Regi Township against delay in the completion of the project.

The allottees claimed that despite the passage of over a decade, development work in the township had been progressing at a snail’s pace.

A representative of the allottees, Mohammad Maroof, told the court that he was allotted land in Zone I of the township but he had still not been given physical possession of the plot. He regretted that the issue had been lingering on but the relevant government officials had been taking the matter lightly.

The chief justice observed that the petition had been pending since Oct 21, 2010 but the officials had been indifferent.

He observed that seriousness on the part of the officials could be judged from the fact that the relevant officials, including director general of PDA, DCO and political agent had not appeared in the case.

LPG THEFT CASE: Also, the bench allowed more time to a team of National Accountability Bureau, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federal Investigation Agency probing the alleged pilferage in the extraction of liquefied petroleum gas from oilfields in Kohat and Karak, and the controversial award of the LPG distribution contract to a company.

Senior NAB investigation officer Colonel Hussain Afridi informed the bench that the bureau had widened the scope of the investigation and had included Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, SNGPL, the natural resources ministry, Foundation Gas, which was given the distribution licence, MOL Company and others in the probe. He added that NAB needed more time as it had received voluminous records from these companies.

The bench asked him that if he required he might hire services of other trained investigators and should go for ruthless investigation so that any of the responsible official should not be spared.