PESHAWAR, Oct 17: A division bench of the Peshawar High Court will take up for preliminary hearing a writ petition filed by former secretary of provincial Information Department, Niaz Khan, challenging his dismissal from service by the Chief Executive.

The petitioner, who was a BPS-20 civil servant, was removed from service under the Removal from Services Ordinance, 2001, after he completed 25 years of service.

The petition, filed through advocates Qazi Attiqur Rehman and Waqas Yousaf, stated that the government had removed him without assigning any cogent reason.

The Chief Executive in his order had claimed that the Annual Confidential Report of the petitioner was not satisfactory. However, the petitioner stated that his report was up to the mark.

Initially, the Chief Executive was made a respondent in the petition, filed under Article 199 of the Constitution. However, due to technical reasons, the petitioner replaced him with the Government of Pakistan.

The bench includes Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan and Justice Malik Hamid Saeed.