PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has issued an interim order restraining the provincial government from reducing, withholding, or diverting development funds allocated to the Law and Justice Department under the provincial budget.
A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice SM Attique Shah and Justice Faheem Wali issued the directives while hearing a writ petition filed through Shumail Ahmad Butt.In its written order, the bench observed that the relevant authorities were constitutionally bound to consult the PHC before making decisions on judicial development funds. However, the funds were reduced without any such consultation.
The petitioner submitted that more than Rs6.46 billion had been allocated for development projects in the Law and Justice sector during the previous fiscal year.However, the provincial government withheld over Rs1 billion, which has yet to be released.
He further informed the court that despite an increase in the number of development projects to 45, only Rs6.06 billion had been allocated for the sector in the current fiscal year’s budget.The court was told that the reduction in funding could adversely affect the completion of several key projects, including the construction of district and tehsil judicial complexes, judges’ residences, the Judicial Academy, solarization initiatives, digitization projects, and other infrastructure schemes.
The petitioner argued that under the Constitution, the judiciary is independent of the executive, and various Supreme Court judgments have reinforced this principle. He contended that the executive was attempting to exert control over the judiciary and that the reduction or withholding of funds violated several constitutional provisions.
During the proceedings, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Advocate General (AG) Shah Faisal Utmankhel sought time to submit a detailed report, which the court granted.He also raised objections to the maintainability of the petition, arguing that the petitioner was not an aggrieved party.The court directed the AG to submit a comprehensive written response within one week.
According to the written order, the chief secretary, additional chief secretary (Planning and Development), secretary Finance, other relevant officials, and the PHC registrar were directed to appear in person at the next hearing.
The bench ordered the immediate release of the remaining amount of over
Rs1 billion allocated to the Law and Judicial Secretariat for the fiscal year 2025-26 and adjourned further proceedings.
