High court orders to open tunnel for three days every week

PESHAWAR, Dec 6: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday directed principal secretary to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chief minister, Malakand commissioner and field commander and National Highways Authority (NHA) chairman to keep Lowari Tunnel open for three days a week. The order was issued by Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan after a lawyer informed the court that his client Sakhawat had a hearing at the PHC circuit branch of Chitral but due to the closure of roads his client’s senior counsel could not appear before the circuit court. As a result of this, the bench vacated the stay order, causing Sakhawat to lose possession of his land. The lawyer requested the PHC to transfer the case to Peshawar because the tunnel is only open for passage one day a week. Disposing the case, CJ Khan said the court cannot transfer the case but ordered principal secretary, Malakand commissioner, and field commander and chairman NHA to take practical steps to keep the tunnel open for three days a week. The step is necessary as there will be a serious shortage of food if supply is halted in winter, stated CJ Khan. He added prices can shoot up, taking commodities well out of the public’s reach. In another hearing, the PHC summoned the managing director and director academic of the Frontier Education Foundation (FEF) as well as the KP secretary higher education to explain why they have not regularised 150 teachers in spite of a court order. The order was issued by a two-member division bench comprising Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Ikramullah. The bench was informed by Musarrat Jabeen and other petitioners’ counsel Advocate Qazi Anwer that the PHC gave an order to regularise their jobs and the same order was maintained by the Supreme Court of Pakistan but it was never followed. The PHC then ordered said officials to appear before court at the next hearing to explain why teachers were not regularised. The bench also ordered transfer of the case to be heard by the PHC chief justice.–Express Tribune]]>