Judge’s orders: Zaka back again at PCB helm

IHC declares appointment of Najam Sethi illegal.

ISLAMABAD:

In a fresh cycle of dismissal and reinstatement at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Zaka Ashraf resumed his already twice-interrupted stint as chairman following an injunction by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday.

At the same time, the high court declared the appointment of elected former chairman PCB Najam Sethi illegal after it accepted petitions against the formation of the Interim Management Committee (IMC).

In the last 12 months, both Sethi and Ashraf have been dismissed twice and reinstated an equal number of times.

Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi declared illegal the notification of February 10, 2014, in which the IMC was formed by superseding PCB’s governing board and Sethi was elected as chairman of cricket board. After the order, former chairman Zaka Ashraf has once again become head of cricket board.

On May 15, the bench had reserved its judgment in response to four petitions against the dissolution of PCB’s governing board and constitution of IMC.



The petitioners, including former coach of Army Cricket Team Major (retd) Ahmed Nadeem Saddal, ex-regional president of Abbottabad Amir Nawab and ex-members of the PCB governing board Muhammad Rafiq and Mir Haider Ali Khan Talpur had filed separate petitions challenging the suspension of PCB’s governing board. They termed the suspension ‘illegal’ and going against the PCB’s constitution.

The sacked employees also moved the court regarding their termination. Later, Ashraf had also become a party in this case.

Justice Qureshi announced the judgment while declaring the notification null and void. The court observed that the government issued a notification superseding PCB’s board of governors through IMC which was an arbitrary exercise not a mala fide one. The court also accepted the petitions of sacked employees.

The legal counsel of petitioners in their concluding arguments had maintained that the federal government had superseded the PCB board of governors by virtue of the PCB constitution’s clause 40. But they amended the clause which clearly says that after superseding, the federal government must hold elections for the constitution of a new board. IMC was constituted for 120 days and was bound to hold PCB elections and form a new board.

Advocate Tafazzal Haider Rizvi, representing the PCB, argued that none of the petitioners had challenged the January 30 by virtue of which the prime minister had been assigned the role of PCB patron-in-chief instead of the president. He had said that some of the petitioners also concealed the facts that the Lahore High Court (LHC) already dismissed their petitions and they then filed petitions before the IHC.

Rizvi had argued that termination of PCB employees was in accordance with the law as PCB terms of service were non-statutory. He also argued that these petitioners had been serving in Lahore and their contracts of service were terminated there, therefore they should have filed petitions before the LHC instead of IHC. He said that petitioners should approach the apex court against the constitution of the IMC.  Advocate Rizvi also argued that none of the petitioners had challenged the notification of January 30 by virtue of which the prime minister had been assigned the role of PCB patron-in-chief instead of the president.

Govt to challenge IHC ruling

The government is likely to challenge Zaka Ashraf’s latest reinstatement as PCB chairman through an intra-court appeal or the Supreme Court, according to an official who has close ties with the government and the PCB.

“It’s like technically overturning the observation of Supreme Court. The decision was to come on sacked employees but IHC gave a verdict against the SRO instead well before the May 20 date for hearing those SRO writ petitions,” he said.

The Supreme Court earlier this year refrained from taking the case ahead, suggesting that the government has the authority to initiate changes within the PCB.

Najam Sethi said that the court order had derailed plans for unveiling a new PCB constitution and holding cricket board elections. “Two ex-SC judges submitted a draft of a democratic PCB constitution to the federal govt last week and I had written to the govt to hold PCB elections as soon as possible,” he said. “But the court order has derailed that plan without even hearing our lawyers on the question of the SRO.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2014.