President appointed Justice Mughal on Dec 22, via an amended ordinance
MUZAFFARABAD: The High Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Tuesday declared the appointment of the acting chief election commissioner (ACEC) by President Sardar Yaqoob as ultra vires [beyond powers].
The appointment was made through an amended ordinance.
The judgment came after a four-judge larger bench headed by senior AJK High Court judge Justice Tabasum Aftab Alvi. Other members of the bench included Justice Jahandad Khan, Justice Azhar Saleem Babar and Justice Muhammad Sheraz Kiyani.
The petition was filed by the AJK chapter of the PML-N. Members of legislative assembly Tariq Farooq and Najeeb Naqi, through their lawyer Raja Muhammad Hanif, filed the petition. The larger bench asked the AJK government to send a panel of three candidates for nomination of CEC to the Kashmir Council within a week.
The AJK government had appointed Chief Justice High Court (HC) Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal as ACEC on Dec 22, 2015. The appointment was challenged by the PML-N the next day on December 23.
The post had been vacant for the last six months. The AJK president, with consultation of the AJK Supreme Court chief justice, had appointed Justice Mughal as ACEC through the amended Ordinance 2015.
In addition to his duties as high court chief justice, till the appointment of a permanent CEC. In October, the AJK president approached the AJK SC to seek guidance for the appointment of ACEC. On October 21, the apex court guided the government to appoint the ACEC till the appointment of a permanent Chief Election Commissioner.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 13th, 2016.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ