Shujaat Azim’s appointment challenged

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court on Friday summoned the attorney general of Pakistan and sought para-wise comments on a petition challenging the appointment of Capt (retd) Shujaat Azim as special assistant to prime minister on the Civil Aviation Authority.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan of the LHC remarked that at the next hearing, scheduled for March 26, the court might consider barring Azim from exercising powers of special assistant.

Counsel for petitioner Barrister Syed Ali Zafar said Azim had been appointed special assistant without following due process. He said the post had not been advertised, nor were the status and functions of special assistant specified.

He said while hearing a similar case in 2012, the Supreme Court had decided that all appointments to public offices would be made on merit.

Zafar said there was a conflict of interest in Azim’s case because he owned a company, Royal Airport Services, involved in aircraft ground handling.

He said Azim had offered several concessions to airlines, including landing rights, in return for their business. “This is grounds for disqualification on account of bias.” Zafar said Doha, Turkish and Eitihad Airways had been offered and were given landing rights in return for giving business to his company.

Zafar said under the Constitution, the executive functions of the federation could only be carried out by the prime minister acting through his ministers, advisers and secretaries. He said no constitutional or legal provisions allowed the prime minister to hand over executive functions of the federation to a special assistant.

He said Azim was in charge of framing policies for aviation a function of the Executive.

The petitioner alleged that Azim had practically in charge of CAA, a regulatory authority independent of the government. He said Azim had been inspecting and deciding matters pertaining to construction at air ports, a subject exclusively in the CAA’s domain.

He said Azim had been visiting departure lounges to discuss contracts for expansion. He said Azim had also constituted committees to look into grievances of PIA’s pilots.

He said the CAA was no longer an independent body since one man – Azim – was overseeing the regulatory body, the bodies being regulated and a services company.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2015.