PESHAWAR, Nov 11 The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday directed the NWFP government to approach the federal government for playing its constitutional role regarding provision of wheat and flour from Punjab in equal proportions, otherwise allowing the province to import wheat from abroad.

A bench comprising Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Ziauddin Khattak directed the provincial food department to suspend its officials charged in any case of flour smuggling and hand them over to the agency concerned for interrogation.

The bench directed for enhancing vigilance to prevent smuggling of wheat and flour to the tribal area. It said all the exit points towards Fata should be sealed.The bench after marathon proceedings that continued till evening issued various directives and guidelines to the government and law-enforcement agencies for plugging continuous wheat and flour smuggling from the province, skyrocketing prices of the commodity and availability of substandard flour. The court fixed Nov 20 for next hearing with directives to officials concerned to follow its order.

The court had taken suo motu notice of the flour crisis in the province on Oct 20 while hearing a writ petition of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association, NWFP chapter, and had summoned district nazims, district coordination officers, police officials, and high-ranking officials of the provincial government, including food, home, and local government departments. District nazims of Peshawar and Hangu, Ghulam Ali and Khan Afzal, respectively, informed the court that nazims had been left out in issuance of flour permits. They added that DCOs issued these permits on recommendation of MPAs and MNAs.

The bench enquired from the director, food department, Abdul Rasheed Khan, under which law the MPAs or MNAs recommend provision of permits. The official said there was no law that authorised them to do so.

The bench questioned why Punjab had only been providing flour and not wheat as this policy had badly affected flour mills in the Frontier province.

“The provincial government should raise the issue at the highest level and try to acquire wheat and flour in equal proportion so that flour mills could run here. The closure of these mills has rendered thousands of people unemployed,” Justice Dost Mohammad observed.

The court ordered “The NWFP government if not allowed by the government of Punjab to lift wheat and flour in 50 to 50 percent from there so that to infuse life into the dying millers of NWFP, may approach the federal government in this regard to use its power and constitutional role or in alternate to permit NWFP to import wheat of its choice of high quality on its own cost as done in 1996-97 from outside world.”

The court directed that the food department should revise transportation policy of wheat and flour from Passco and the Punjab government so that the wheat/flour lifted from there reached the Frontier province safe and secure without any pilferage and for that purpose it should approve NLC besides other reliable transport companies.

It directed the food department to revise the permit system and make it more transparent and, besides the food secretary, also involve home and local government secretaries in the process.

The bench directed that the permits to be issued for distribution in the settled area should be of different colour from those issued for Fata.

It observed that appointment of retail distributors should be revised and while nominating a new distributor, besides the DCO, price review committees, office-bearers of chamber of trade and commerce, local journalists, office-bearers of other registered organisations and the president and general secretary of the local bar association should be included in the process and their consent should be obtained in writing. Sufficient bank guarantees be also obtained from retail distributors.The bench also heard grievances of the local nanbais (bread seller) association and ordered the food department to make arrangements on urgent basis to provide them with fine flour at reasonable price.

It observed that no political agent of any tribal agency had powers to issue permit and intrude into the settled area. It was added that only with the consent of the chief secretary and the food secretary, wheat/flour should be allowed to be transported to Fata on permits issued by the political agent.

Anti-Corruption Establishment director Hashim Khan informed the court that they had registered various cases of smuggling of wheat and flour, but the food department had not been providing them with relevant record so as to prosecute the officials concerned. The bench directed the food director to provide the record within three days. About one of the officials, an assistant food controller, the director said he had been transferred from Hangu to the Azakhel area. The bench asked why he had not been suspended. It directed that he along with other officials should be suspended forthwith and handed over to the Anti-Corruption Establishment.

The counsel for the Flour Mills Association, Moazam Butt, contended that if Punjab was not willing to provide wheat to the Frontier province then they should be allowed to procure it from the open market.