PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday disposed of the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan’s petition challenging an inquiry of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission against it after learning that the probe into alleged irregularities in certain appointments to the varsity has been closed down.

“The commission has stopped the inquiry and transferred the material available with them to the National Accountability Bureau, which is already looking into the matter,” KPEC deputy prosecutor general Zahid Aman told a bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Irshad Qaisar.

Around two months ago, the high court had issued a stay order against the KPEC inquiry in question.

The AWKU had challenged the conducting of that inquiry on the ground that the NAB had begun almost identical probe and that had still been in progress.

Information prompts PHC to dispose of university’s petition against inquiry

The NAB Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had begun inquiry last year after receiving complaints about the alleged appointments to certain posts of the university on political basis.

The said inquiry was also challenged by the AWKU last year on the ground that the university was an autonomous and independent body set up under the AWKU Act 2012.

The petition was disposed of on Feb 11, 2015, by a bench headed by Justice Yahya Afridi with the direction to the NAB’s regional office to provide in writing the list of documents which they required from the university.

The bench had issued directions that the correspondence with the university should be made through its registrar.

In the present petition, the petitioner said after NAB had taken cognisance of the matter, the university on Feb 2, 2015, received a letter from the KPEC wherein the petitioner was asked to provide same information as provided to NAB.

He said time and again, the KPEC sent other letters on Feb 6, Feb 12, Feb 18 and Feb 23 asking for the same information.

The petitioner said the commission without determining its jurisdiction in the matter had been illegally and unlawfully harassing the petitioner.

STAY ORDER EXTENDED: The bench extended a stay order against the holding of AWKU Mardan performance audit by a chartered accountant firm of Islamabad on the order of the provincial higher education department and asked the government to file comments on a petition of the varsity against the audit.

When the bench took up for hearing into the case, the petitioner’s counsel, Rehmanullah Khan, said during previous hearing on Aug 26, the court had sought comments from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary and the higher education secretary but they had yet to file comments. He said interim relief was granted to the petitioner on that date and that the same should be extended until the next hearing.

The AWKU has challenged a higher education department (HED) order for the holding of its performance audit through a firm, Deloitte Chartered Accountant Islamabad, instead of regular audit by the Higher Education Commission and Auditor General of Pakistan.

The petitioner said performance audit of the universities was conducted by the HEC every year and that evaluation was published on the website of the commission for general public. He said as the relevant amendments were made in the KP Universities Act in May 2015, the same could not be applied to the university with retrospective effect as it was against the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2015

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