PESHAWAR: Almost a fortnight before the completion of its tenure, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa caretaker government has approved a summary to reconstitute the board of authority of the Galiyat Development Authority by appointing four new private members to it.

The summary’s approval comes from the cabinet through circulation, according to official documents.

The GDA is responsible for the development of Galiyat and other hilly areas of Abbottabad district.

The documents available with Dawn say the GDA’s 11 members’ board was notified in August last year with Shakeel Durrani, Jehanzeb Khan, Tahir Jehangir and Syed Rizwan Mehboob being appointed private members.

A summary submitted to the caretaker chief minister said the GDA Act provided for a board comprising five private members, four members from government sector and two local members of the provincial assembly.

Summary approved by cabinet through circulation

It, however, said Mr Jehanzab Khan, who was currently serving as the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission in Islamabad, couldn’t be appointed against the quota of private members, so the “pragmatic approach” was to consider him against the government sector quota.

Regarding Shakeel Durrani, the summary said on Aug 17, 2023, and as per rules, the slot fell vacant, so it should be filled within a month but the same wasn’t done by the tourism department - the administrative department of the GDA.

“The Act states about the resignation, hence, the present correspondence between tourism departments and GDA does not hold any substantial legal ground at this point in time,” it said.

Sources in the GDA told Dawn that Mr Durrani, who resigned in August last year, attended the board meeting in January this year following the intervention of the chief secretary.

The summary said Mr Rizwan Mehboob, too, tendered his resignation and was no longer a member of the board, while another vacancy of the private member was already lying vacant.

The summary said in view of the situation, four members, including Sajid Khan Jadoon, Syed Nauman Shah, retired brigadier Mansoor Syed and retired Brigadier Syed Mujtaba, were approved against the private sector quota “for circulation from the cabinet as per Rule 20(C) of the Rules of Business” before a notification to this effect is issued with substitution in the existing notification.”

The summary added that Mr Jehanzeb’s appointment was approved against the government sector quota.

It was immediately not known whether a notification regarding the appointment of the private members was issued or not.

Sources told Dawn that the decision was of perpetual nature and was beyond the mandate of the caretaker government.

They insisted that general elections had already been held in the province and the new chief minister was nominated by the party with a majority of MPAs-elect butthe caretaker government was adamant to de-notify the members, who were environmentalists and men of great repute.

A senior official told Dawn that dissolution of boards such as GDA was illegal.

He said that Jehanzeb Khan and Shakeel Durrani vociferously opposed the de-notification of the Makhniyal area of Haripur from the GDA and handing it back to the TMA of Khanpur.

The official said that the caretaker government, annoyed with the board’s opposition to de-notification of Makhniyal area, approved a summary without taking the chief secretary into loop through circulation.

The official also claimed that some names in the new board were the choice of a top government functionary.

Another senior official told Dawn that the provincial government had extended the GDA jurisdiction to the Makhniyal area for better management and control. Previously, the area was under the control of the Khanpur TMA.

He, however, said a summary was sent to the caretaker chief minister last summer seeking to place the area in the jurisdiction of Khanpur TMA.

The official said the GDA board opposed the decision insisting the flora and fauna of the region was a national asset, which should be conserved and ecosystem maintained.

The board even asked the tourism department to place its recommendations before the cabinet for consideration and make a request for the hearing of the viewpoint of the BoA as well.

The official said the caretaker government, after the board’s opposition to its plans, decided to change board members. He added that two secretaries of the tourism department also refused to follow orders regarding the reconstitution of the board.

The official said the secretary of the tourism and culture department also got himself posted out a day earlier instead of agreeing to the order.

Following the departure of the secretary, the establishment department on Wednesday assigned the additional charge of the tourism secretary’s office to Mohammad Bakhtiar Khan, the special secretary at the culture, tourism and archaeology department, according to the official.

He added that even the names of the new members didn’t come from the tourism department as their recommendation was made by a high-level functionary.

The minister for culture, tourism and archaeology was not available for comments.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2024