PESHAWAR, Jan 29: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday directed the provincial government to ensure the early construction of walls around and shaded funeral places at public graveyards by allocating funds.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Khalid Mahmood ordered the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary to form a special committee to be headed by a senior administrative secretary, if possible the chief secretary himself, to finalise a proper formula or a PC-1 for the purpose.

The secretary of the auqaf department told the bench that his department had moved two summaries to the chief minister through proper channel for issuance of grants to erect walls and other structures on all graveyards in the province notified as public graveyards.

He said until now, the government had sanctioned grants for six graveyards in Peshawar and three in Hangu districts.

The bench directed all deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners (revenue) to again carry out extensive operation for removal of encroachment otherwise they should appear in person on March 12, the next date of hearing, and explain why the order of the high court was not complied with.

The bench also issued show cause notice to the deputy commissioner of Lakki Marwat for producing false information about removal of encroachments from graveyards in the areas under his jurisdiction.

It took notice of the matter during the hearing into an application filed by Faqir Mohammad, a resident of Lakki Marwat.

According to the petitioner, he has built certain structures on a piece of land belonging to him but now, he has been informed that the said land belongs to the graveyard.

He said he was willing to allocate nearby land for graveyard but the administration had not been accepting his request.

The bench expressed surprise that the deputy commissioner had informed it about removal of all encroachments but the applicant disputed the information.

Another application was moved by lawyer Shahpur Jan, who alleged that in some of the graveyards in Peshawar, the authorities had converted certain pieces of land taken back from land grabbers into small plots and allotted it to favourite persons.

The bench issued directives to the director of anti-corruption establishment to look into the matter, arrest the relevant officials and register cases against them if they were found culpable.

It also accepted a request by some Swat residents for permission to provide alternate land for the graveyard and that the structures they had constructed be spared.

The bench directed the deputy commissioner and the assistant commissioner (revenue) of Swat to ensure that the land allocated by these applicants be of equal worth and importance as the one over which the controversial structures were raised.

In 2011, the high court had taken suo moto notice of encroachments in public graveyards after applications were sent to the court by some people.

Initially, the court issued orders regarding removal of encroachments in Peshawar but later, the order was extended to the entire province.