PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet on Tuesday approved the draft bill for setting up special courts in the province to ensure early disposal of business-related disputes.

The cabinet met Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in the chair and ministers and administrative secretaries in attendance.

Special assistant to the chief minister on information Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif later told reporters that the cabinet approved the KP Resolution of Commercial Disputes Bill, 2022, to create conducive environment to promote investment and businesses and resolve commercial disputes.

He said commercial disputes overburdened civil courts and their disposal took many years and therefore, legislation was required to address the issue.

Barrister Saif said the proposed legislation would greatly contribute to the promotion of business activities in the province.

Regularisation of remaining ex-Fata project employees also approved

A senior official requesting anonymity told Dawn that under the proposed law, the government was extending the mandate of consumer courts to the resolution of business disputes.

He said those courts would be empowered to hear commercial disputes involving over Rs300,000.

The official said a tribunal would hear appeals against the consumer courts’ decisions in consultation with the Peshawar High Court and it would also decide the case within a timeline.

“Consumer courts are under-utilised and all pending commercial cases will be referred to the consumer courts after the enactment of this proposed law,” he said.

Barrister Saif said for the development of the merged tribal districts, the cabinet approved the regularisation of the remaining 630 project employees from the erstwhile Fata.

He said the government had approved the regularisation of thousands of project employees in tribal districts.

The special assistant to the chief minister said the cabinet also approved the KP Stamp Paper Rules, 2021, under which the procedure for issuance of and depositing of fee for e-stamp papers, verification and cancellation of e-stamp papers, and the procedure for e-challan had been devised.

He said the initiative would not only facilitate the people in obtaining stamp papers but also caused the revenue to increase.

Barrister Saif said the cabinet also approved an increase in the emoluments of additional advocate generals, assistant advocate generals and advocate on record, to bring their allowances on par with such officers in other provinces.

He said the hiked allowances included house rent, Supreme Court fee, medical and telephone allowance, and others.

The CM’s aide said the cabinet approved allowances equal to MP-II Scale for the woman ombudsman in the province and empowered deputy commissioners as the Justice of Peace in tribal districts.

He added that those powers would enable DCs to exercise certain powers of the police to ensure law and order in their respective areas.

The cabinet also approved the issuance of NOC for the Suki Kenari hydel power project for the installation of a tower, passing of transmission line, and use of access road for tower in reserved forests.

Barrister Saif said the cabinet, keeping in view the best financial discipline and performance, approved Rs50 million grant each for the University of Peshawar and Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, while similar grant would be given away to other public sector universities on best performance.

The cabinet approved the transfer of 10 kanals of land to fisheries department.

Endorsing the establishment of Overseas Pakistanis Commission in the province, it also formed a committee comprising finance, food, IT and labour minister on the matter.

The special assistant to the chief minister said the move would help resolve issues related to overseas Pakistanis hailing from the province.

He said the cabinet also approved the 2021-22 development budget presented by the provincial highway authority to build highways, roads and bridges in the province, including tribal districts. It also approved Rs25.921 billion for the purpose.

Meanwhile, a statement issued here said the chief minister welcomed the relief package announced by the prime minister to address price hike and told the cabinet that PM Imran Khan had come up with a historic initiative despite facing difficult economic situation and thus, winning the hearts of the people.

The chief minister said the prime minister deserved appreciation over the relief package, which would directly benefit the common man.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2022