AJK court freezes PTI registration relief

Full court to take up party's application on July 2

MUZAFFARABAD:

The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court has suspended the AJK High Court order granting interim relief to the PTI in its dispute with the AJK Election Commission over the party's registration until July 2.

On June 23, the AJK High Court directed the polls oversight body to provisionally register PTI as a political party, effectively suspending the commission's May 16 decision rejecting the party's registration application.

A three-member bench headed by senior puisne judge Syed Shahid Bahar and comprising Justices Sardar Muhammad Ejaz and Khalid Rasheed Chaudhry issued this order.

The commission challenged the order in the AJK Supreme Court whose chief justice, Raja Saeed Akram, suspended the high court order through an interim order on Monday.

Earlier, PTI counsel Yasir Safeer Mughal appeared before the court and sought an adjournment, submitting that he was unable to prepare the case properly. The court accepted the request, and directed the registrar's office to fix the application for hearing before the full court on July 2.

Pending the hearing, the chief justice ordered that the operation of the high court's June 23 order, to the extent that it granted interim relief, would remain in abeyance.

The order stated that the court considered the overall facts and circumstances of the case, the settled principles governing the grant of interim relief—including the existence of a prima facie arguable case, the balance of convenience and the likelihood of irreparable loss - as well as the affidavit filed in support of the application.

Election Commission counsel Tahir Aziz Khan, Advocate General Raja Nadeem Khan and others were present during the proceedings.

On May 16, the commission rejected PTI's application for registration, citing the alleged non-fulfilment of Rule 121 of the Election Rules concerning the applicant party's financial affairs and account details.