PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to seek its response to a plea seeking probe by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) into allegations of corruption in wheat procurement by the provincial government last year.

A bench consisting of Justice Mohammad Naeeem Anwar and Justice Farah Jamshed issued the order after preliminary hearing ofa petition filed by former federal minister Nawabzada Khawaja Mohammad Khan Hoti, who also challenged formation of a threemember anti-corruption committee by the government and requested the court to declare it illegal.

The petitioner alleged that Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and Food Minister Zahir Shah Toru were directly involved in the `wheat procurement scam` and they were using that anti-corruption committee for their protection from accountability.

Advocate Saleem Shah Hoti appeared for the petitioner and stated that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had a population of around 40.8 million with the annual wheat requirement about 124 kilograms per head, totaling around 5.059 million metric tonnes.He said that as per agriculture department, the expected total production of wheat was estimated as 1.5 million metric tonnes (30 per cent), so the shortfall was estimated to be 3.559 million metric tonnes.

He said that in order to overcome the shortfall, the provincial government decided to purchase 3.5 million metric tonnes of wheat from the open market of Punjab and KP after the approval of the chief minister.

Mr Hoti stated that food department had established 21 wheat procurement centres in 21 districts, including Peshawar. He said that in order to oversee the procurement process, monitoring committees comprising respective deputy commissioners and district food control1ers were established.

He said that the officers of NABand anti-corruption establishment were also included but they reportedly distanced themselves from those committees over the allegations of corrupt practices and irregularities.

He claimed that the KP government had set the price for 40 kilograms of wheat at Rs3,900 and capped the purchase limit from each dealer and farmer at 500 tonnes on the pretext of transparency.

He said that the market price of 100 kilograms of wheat in Punjab was Rs8,000 but the same quantity was procured at Rs9,750 or more.

The counsel alleged that brokers exploited the situation and collaborated with the respective officials of food department while buying wheat cheaply from Punjab farmers and sold out the same at exorbi-tant and inflated price to the KP government, which caused losses of billions of rupees to the exchequer.

Moreover, he stated that the chief minister established a three-member anti-corruption committee comprising retired Brigadier Musadig Abbasi, Qazi Mohammad Anwar and Shah Farman. He added that they were hardcore members of ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

Mr Hoti said that the committee started an inquiry into the `wheat scandal` and summoned the provincial food minister.

He claimed that the committee had no legal and constitutional status and it had been toeing the lines of the chief minister so as to protect the key players in the `wheat scandal`.

He argued that independent and transparent investigation wasessential to fix responsibility and identify those responsible for the scam. He claimed that the government`s financial mismanagement and bad governance plunged the province into financial and administrative crises and political chaos, which led to deterioration of state institutions.

The respondents in the petition are Chief Minister Sardar Ali Amin Gandapur, Food Minister Zahir Shah Toru, KP government through its chief secretary, provincial food secretary, adviser to chief minister, Brig Musadiq Abbasi, Qazi Mohammad Anwar, Shah Farman, MPA Shakeel Ahmad, MNAs Mohammad Atif Khan and Juanid Akber, director of food department, director of AntiCorruption Establishment, NAB chairman, and its KP director general.