PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Thursday disposed of a petition challenging the ‘proposed’ dissolution of the Sarhad Development Authority with the direction to the provincial government not to transfer any assets of the authority to a company established last year.

Justice Nisar Hussain and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth also ruled that the SDA assets already transferred to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zones Management and Development Company, including Rs125 million cash, should be returned to the authority.

They asked the government not to issue any order, which could affect the services of the SDA employees.

The petition was filed by SDA Employees Federation and 318 of its employees challenging the proposed dissolution of SDA by the provincial government and creation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zones Management and Development Company (EZMDC) along with certain steps taken by the government, which the petitioners claimed were aimed at dissolving the authority.

PHC disposes of petition against authority’s dissolution

The bench announced a short order and detailed judgment will be released later.

The petition was disposed of in light of the reply submitted by the provincial government wherein it was stated that the SDA had not been dissolved and the SDA board had been constituted by the chief minister to run the day-to-day affairs of the authority.

The government has also assured that all employees of SDA were intact. “In case of dissolution of SDA, all the employees will be retained and adjusted as per policy of the Provincial Government,” the government has assured.

It further said the KP EZMDC had been constituted under section 5 of the Companies Ordinance 1984 to facilitate SDA in the establishment of special economic zones in the province.

KP Advocate General Abdul Lateef Yousafzai assured the court that presently the government had not been dissolving the SDA. He added that the services of the petitioners were secured and there was no threat to their jobs. He said even if the government decided to dissolve SDA it would be strictly in accordance with law.

The petitioners had claimed that the said company was constituted on political considerations. They claimed that the provincial government and secretary industries had in illegal manner disposing of and handing over the property of the SDA worth billions of rupees to the controversial company.

The petitioner claimed that 423 acres of valuable commercial property situated in Hattar Industrial Estate was handed over to the company and the company had been on daily basis putting forward demands for taking over control of other industrial estates.

The petitioners had also submitted certain letters issued by the company’s chief executive officer, Mohsin M. Syed to the SDA’s chairman asking him to make arrangements for transfer of all operational SDA projects for further management by the company.

They said different industrial estates had been mentioned in the letters for transferring to the company on permanent basis.

Lawyer Mian Muhibullah Kakakhel appeared for the petitioners and contended that the said company had no legal status. He questioned how properties of SDA could be transferred to a company whose creation was questionable.

The lawyer said the SDA was creation of a law, whereas the assembly had so far not passed any law for taking over its assets by the Company.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2016