Govt withdraws mayor’s suspension notice

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Friday withdrew a notification for the 90-day suspension of Islamabad’s mayor, prompting the court to dispose of contempt of court petition.

This was decided on Friday by a single-member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, as it heard a contempt of court petition filed by the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz against the federal government and the Local Government Commission (LGC) for summoning a meeting of the commission to discuss the mayor’s suspension even though the court had already overturned the notice.

During Friday’s hearing Aziz’s counsel Kashif Malik appeared, while Additional Attorney General Tariq Khokhar appeared on behalf of the federation.

Malik began by arguing that the court had on May 21 suspended a notification issued by the government on May 17 suspending him. However, the LGC relisted the matter for its meeting held on June 3.

Khokhar, however,  told the court that in light of directives from the government, he was stating the court that: “the federation has decided to withdraw the notification of suspension of Sheikh Ansar Aziz”.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2020.