PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has directed the provincial government to submit a report about steps taken by it for implementing the judgment wherein it had directed to hand over assets of the former Mardan district government to the city government.

A two-member bench consisting of Justice Lal Jan Khattak and Justice Abdul Shakoor also again sought details from the provincial government about the official vehicles in possession of deputy commissioners in the province and their entitlement thereto.

The bench issued the order while hearing a contempt petition filed by Mardan city mayor Himayatullah Mayar against non-implementation of a judgment of the court delivered on March 17, 2022, wherein it had ordered the government to hand over assets of the former district governments to tehsil governments.

Few days ago, the court had ordered the government to hand over the relevant office to the city mayor, but that order had also not been implemented.

Bench also orders govt to furnish details of vehicles in possession of DCs

Advocate Babar Khan Yousafzai appeared for the petitioner and stated that despite clear cut order of the court, the respondents including the local government department and Mardan district administration had not handed over the office of former district nazim to the Mardan city mayo and as such they had committed further contempt of court.

An assistant advocate general, Barrister Babar Shehzad Imran, said that the grievances of the petitioner would be addressed in the light of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2013 amended in 2022. He added that the issue had been taken up by the deputy commissioner with the provincial government.

He stated that KP Advocate General Shumail Ahmad Butt, who had earlier appeared before the court in like matters, would argue the case also. He added that as the advocate general had gone to perform Haj, therefore, the case may be adjourned till his arrival.

The bench decided to adjourn the hearing till July 26 with the direction to the assistant advocate general to file a report on the behalf of government, showing therein the steps taken by it to address the petitioner’s grievances and that to what extent the judgment of the high court of March 17 had been implemented in letter and spirit.

During the previous hearing, the court had also sought details about official vehicles in possession of deputy commissioners and their entitlement under the law. As the details were not submitted, the bench ordered the assistant advocate general to submit the same before the next hearing.

The secretary of local government, Syed Zaheerul Islam, the deputy commissioner of Mardan, Habibullah Arif, and the additional deputy commissioner, Samiur Rehman, also turned up in the case.

Babar Khan Yousafzai stated that so far the moveable and immovable properties of the former district government had not been handed over to the elected local government.

He stated that in March, the high court had ordered the government to hand over assets of the former district governments to tehsil governments and to issue the required notification within 10 days.

He said the government had produced a notification claiming that all assets of local councils had been handed over to the local governments. The lawyer, however, contended that the notification had not been implemented.

He said the offices of the city council had been occupied by district administration as well as chairman of the district development advisory committee due to which office had not been provided to mayor.

Mr Yousafzai claimed that the vehicles, which should be under the control of the mayor, had been given to the administrative officers.

Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2022