PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday asked the agriculture secretary to respond to a petition challenging the non-extension of an agriculture development project under the Agriculture Transformation Plan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The orders were issued by Justice Shakeel Ahmad and Justice Fazal Subhan during the hearing into a joint petition of Saba Akbar and 170 other agriculture officers (BPS-17), who requested the bench to declare illegal the government’s act of not including their project in the Annual Development Programme 2024-25.

The court fixed the next hearing for Sept 2. The petitioners requested the bench to order the government to extend the project.

They insisted that 70 per cent of the project’s budget was unutilised, so it could be easily extended for a year.

Officers complain govt didn’t include their project in ADP 2024-25

The petitioners also prayed the court to stop the government from acting against them until the disposal of the petition.

The counsel for petitioners said that in 2021-22, the provincial government introduced ‘information and communication technology-based improvement of agriculture extension services’ in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the Agriculture Transformation Plan.

He said that PC-I of the project was approved in ADP with the total cost of Rs2,000 million for settled areas, while similarly the same project was also introduced for the erstwhile Fata for which another PC-I was approved in December 2021.

He said that in pursuance of the approved PC-I, the provincial government through the director general, department of agriculture extension, advertised a total of 171 posts of agriculture officers (BPS-17) with prescribed qualification.

The counsel said that after scrutiny and interviews by the project selection committee, the petitioners were selected for those posts before being appointed on January 17, 2023.

He argued that the petitioners were highly qualified and had mostly completed their PhD and MPhil courses in the relevant subject.

The lawyer said that the petitioners were posted in different districts after fulfilling all codal formalities.

He contended that they performed their services to the best of their abilities and appreciation letters were issued to them from time-to-time.

The counsel pointed out that the project was extended by the previous government through a notification on July 26, 2023, for one year from 2023 to 2024.

He said that the new government, which was formed soon after the Feb 8 general elections, was trying to sabotage the projectjust to accommodate its favourite people.

The counsel said that the government did not include the project in the ADP. He added that the petitioners agitated the matter before the agriculture secretary by writing appeals to him, but in vain.

The lawyer claimed that similar projects were extended in Punjab and Sindh provinces. He said that around 70 per cent of the fund (Rs1.65 billion) earmarked for the project was unutilised.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2024