SC restores Muhammad Malick as MD PTV

SC issued notices to federal government, among other respondents.

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court on Friday suspended a Islamabad High Court (IHC) July 7 judgment, thereby restoring journalist Muhammad Malick as Managing Director (MD) PTV.

A two judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Friday heard Malick’s appeal against IHC’s July 7 judgment, wherein his appointment as MD PTV was declared as illegal. Director Special Assignments PTV Qazi Mustafa Kamal had challenged the appointment of Malick as MD PTV.

Malick had filed petition against the judgment of the IHC.

Appearing on behalf of the Malick, Advocate Akram Sheikh argued that impugned Judgment wrongly holds that the heads of public sector organisations must have at least a master’s degree and further wrongly holds that the demand for only a bachelor’s degree was “manipulated” and “maneuvered.”

The petition noted that there is no necessary link between the possession of a Master’s degree and the ability to act as a successful MD of PTV.

“No evidence was presented before the learned  High Court to show that “as a matter of practice,” the heads of public sector organizations are required to have “at least a Master’s degree, if not a PHD or MBA.” On the contrary, it is common knowledge that some of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs. For example Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, and Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, did not even have a bachelor’s degree but were instead college dropouts. The impugned Judgment is therefore liable to be set aside”

The petition further contended that the judgment wrongly holds that Malick was disqualified from being appointed as the MD of PTV as the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had given a negative report against him.

It also stated that the high court ignored that the original report of the Intelligence Bureau was not accepted and the Director General IB and had directed to review the matter personally and to conduct a more detailed and thorough study with a more senior officer. After the high-level re-investigation, both Malick and Jamal Shah were cleared for appointment.

The high court’s judgment falls into error by holding that the Prime Minister failed to exercise his discretion in relation to the choice between the petitioner and Jamal Shah in a “structured” manner, said petitioner.

“This conclusion ignores the fact that as per the rules of business, the Cabinet does not provide reasons for its decisions. Similarly, the Prime Minister was not required to provide reasons for his decision to appoint the petitioner (as opposed to Jamal Shah) because the decision was one based on his subjective satisfaction

The petitioner contends that it remains the discretion of the executive branch to determine what qualifications it wishes to prescribe.

It is also claimed that appellant was never a defaulter of PTV as two entities associated with the petitioner had long standing disputes with PTV. One entity is Media Magic (Pvt.) Limited (a company in which the petitioner owns shares) and the other is Pink Productions, a sole proprietorship of Anila Malick the wife of the petitioner.

“In the instant case, neither Media Magic nor Anila Malick were made party to the proceedings. As such, the learned Single Judge could not have declared either of them to have been benamidars, or shell entities of the petitioner. Furthermore, such a finding requires a detailed examination of factual issues (which is generally impermissible in the exercise of constitutional jurisdiction). In any event, no such detailed examination of the facts took place. The Impugned Judgment is therefore liable to be set aside”.

The petitioner had requested the bench suspend the IHC’s judgment till the final disposal of the case in the interests of equity, justice and fairplay otherwise the petitioner will suffer irreparable loss financially and to his reputation.

The court, while accepting the applicant’s plea, issued notices to all respondents including federal government.

The hearing of the case was then adjourned for an indefinite period.

Hon Supreme Court suspends IHC verdict and restores me as MD PTV. Humbled & grateful to Allah. Strike one against corruption mafia :)

— Mohammad Malick (@MalickViews) July 11, 2014