Contempt of court: Shujaat Azim appointment irks top court

Tells government to either explain his hiring or fire him

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court told the government on Thursday that it should either explain why a convicted man had been appointed as a special assistant to the prime minister or de-notify him as it took strong exception to Capt (retd) Shujaat Azim appointment as an aide on civil aviation.

A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim, heard a contempt of court petition filed by Mahmood Akhtar Naqvi. Naqvi had contended that Azim had been appointed despite past orders of the top court to remove him.

In 2013, the court had expressed concerns over Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointing Azim as an adviser since the latter had been court martialled by the Pakistan Air Force. Given the court’s concerns, Azim had resigned.

However, after former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry retired, Azim was reappointed as a special assistant, albeit on a honorary basis.

During Thursday’s hearing, the bench observed that the official request to appoint Azim did not reflect his record. The establishment secretary told the bench that the summary had been flouted by the cabinet secretary.

On this, the court expressed its annoyance that the government had tried to conceal facts. But the CAA secretary tendered an unconditional apology about concealing Azim’s criminal record.

However, Deputy Attorney General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti contended that there was no legal restriction regarding the appointment of convicted person on such a post.

Directing the secretaries of the cabinet and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to appear with complete record of Azim’s appointment on December 2, the court offered the government two choices, either de-notify the special assistant or explain why his appointment should be allowed.

This is not the first time Azim’s appointment has been called into question. Earlier this year, a petition had been filed in the Lahore High Court against his appointment where the petitioner contended that his appointment did not follow due process. Further, the petitioner had pointed out that there were conflict of interests in Azim’s appointment since the latter owned a company which provided services to airports for handling aircrafts.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2015.