PESHAWAR: The government on Monday tabled a bill in the provincial assembly to amend the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission Act (KPECA) to make it more stringent and remove certain lacunas, which had helped several suspected outlaws secure bail from the Peshawar High Court.

A day after the Awami National Party leaders accused the provincial government of politically victimising them through the Ehtesab Commission, law minister Imtiaz Shahid tabled the much-publicised bill, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (amendment) Bill, 2015, seeking several changes to the existing law, including one for its applicability of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

In the existing law, its drafters didn’t mention the applicability of CrPC to cases and therefore, several suspects were granted bail by the high court once their physical remand with the commission ended and they were sent to prison on judicial remand.

Also, the government proposed an amendment in the law so that one convicted for an offence under this Act shall not be entitled to any remission in his sentence.

Tables bill in PA suggesting all offences covered by commission should be non-bailable

As in the existing Act, it is mentioned that all offences under this Act shall be non-bailable, the government has now tried to clearly spell out Section 23 (3) of the Act suggesting to incorporate the words, “All offences under this act shall be non-bailable and no court shall have jurisdiction to grant bail to any person accused of an offence under this Act.”

These amendments are aimed at keeping behind bars several suspects, whose petitions have been pending with the PHC, including that of provincial minister Ziaullah Afridi.

The house also passed amendments to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act 2013 allowing the disqualification of district and tehsil members on defection.

On defection, a member of the district and tehsil council may be declared in writing by the party head to have defected from the political party, and the party head may forward a copy of the declaration to the presiding officer of the concerned council and the chief election commissioner and would similarly forward a copy thereof to the member concerned.

Similarly, through another amendment, a new section was inserted in the law regarding outsourcing of function, which states, “Government may, by notification, exclude any of the functions assigned to the city district government, district government, Tehsil Municipal Administration or Town Municipal Administration, as the case may be, and outsource these functions to any authority, firm or company on such terms and conditions as it may determine in accordance with the existing laws or rules in forces in the province.”

Earlier, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak informed the house that provision of the missing basic facilities to government schools in the province would cost Rs43 billion.

He claimed that by the end of the government’s tenure, 80 percent of the missing facilities would be provided to the public sector schools.

The chief minister was responding to several questions on basic facilities at government schools.

He said efforts were afoot to ensure provision of basic facilities, including electricity, drinking water, lavatory, boundary wall and additional classrooms, at primary and higher secondary schools.

Khattak said 20 percent of the funds allocated for local bodies would be used to ensure such facilities at middle and high schools.

Earlier, elementary and secondary education minister Mohammad Atif told the house that half of the four million students enrolled at government schools in the province had no furniture. He said Rs2 billion had been allocated for provision of furniture to such educational institutions during the previous two financial years.

The minister besides the allocated funds, the education department also needed Rs5.5 billion only for provision of furniture.

“First, furniture will be provided to high schools, then to middle schools and finally to primary schools,” he said.

Also, the house unanimously passed a resolution to condemn the deadly suicide attack on Punjab home minister Colonel (r) Shuja Khanzada and sympathise with the families of all those, who died in the terrorist activity.

Through the resolution, the assembly demanded that the federal government complete investigation into Shuja Khanzada’s assassination speedily and award exemplary punishment to the culprit.

The resolution was tabled by PPP MPA Nighat Orkazai and carried signatures of MPAs from all parliamentary parties.

Later, higher education minister Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani said a summary for the removal of the Swat University vice chancellor had been sent to Governor Mehtab Ahmad Khan for approval.

“The VC is involved in misconduct and irregularities in appointments,” he said.

Published in Dawn August 18th, 2015

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