PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday restrained the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission (KPEC) from re-arresting father of a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf lawmaker in a case of the alleged possession of illegal assets.

While issuing the restraining order, a bench comprising Justice Qaisar Rasheed and Justice Roohul Amin Khan issued notices to the directors general of National Accountability Bureau, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the KPEC asking themto file comments about the plea of the petitioner, Noor Daraz Khattak, father of MPA Gul Sahib Khan and former chief coordinating officer of Kohat district council.

It observed that the petitioner should not be arrested until the next hearing, which would be fixed later.

Ameenur Rehman, lawyer for the petitioner, said his client was arrested on April 17 by the Ehtesab Commission along with four other people on the charge of grabbing government land and fraudulently transferring it to different people in Jarma area of Kohat.

He said the commission also booked his client in another case of alleged illegal appointments when he was the town municipal officer in Peshawar.

The lawyer said in both cases, the high court had granted him bail early last month.

He said lately, the commission began inquiry againsthis client on the charge ofpossessing illegal assets and even issued warrants for his arrest.

The lawyer said the NAB earlier too conducted the same inquiry and closed it due to lack of evidence in April 2008 and that an accountability court upheld the move.

He said under Section 35 of the KPEC Act, the commission could not probe a matter pending with the NAB, a federal agency, or already decided by the NAB.

NOTICE ISSUED: The bench issued notices to the provincial government and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa advocate general to respond to the Election Commission of Pakistan petition against the recent amendments to the KP Local Councils (Conduct of Elections) Rules 2014.

The said amendment has empowered political parties to submit additional names of candidates apart from the list submitted against different categories ofreserved seats in district and tehsil councils elections.

The bench directed that the advocate general should assist the court on the matter and clarify whether the said amendment was made with mala fide intentions.

The petition is filed by the ECP through its secretary.

Zeeshan Munir Paracha, lawyer for the ECP, said an amendment was incorporated in the said election rules by the provincial government on June 1, 2015, a day after local councils elections were held in the province on May 30.

He said under the rule, political parties would manipulate the lists of their candidates and had been replacing certain names with new ones.

The lawyer said the rule was vague and would be misused by the political parties and that making changes to the rules soon after holding polls created doubts about the intentions behind its introduction.