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| June 18, 2003 | Wednesday | Rabi-us-Sani 17, 1424 |
AJKSC seat at Kotli likely
MUZAFFARABAD, June 17: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir government is contemplating a fourth seat of the AJK Supreme Court at Kotli, the home district of Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan, Dawn learnt here on good authority.
It was also learnt that AJK President Sardar Mohammad Anwar Khan has agreed “in principle” with the suggestions of the PM and the AJK SC Chief Justice Mohammad Yunus Surakhvi, who had observed that the people should get justice at their doorsteps.
The president had, however, approved another seat of the apex court at Rawalakot “in view of the comparative analysis of the cases from different districts pending in the Supreme Court,” sources said.
The AJK Supreme Court comprises the CJ and two other judges. Currently, one of the other two justices is an ad-hoc judge.
The principal seat of the court is in Muzaffarabad and its first circuit bench was established in divisional headquarters Mirpur in 1978. Of late, the president inaugurated the sitting of the court in Rawalakot, in his home district of Poonch, despite opposition by the prime minister on some constitutional grounds.
The prime minister is on record saying that it was below the decorum and dignity of the highest court of the state to “move like an omnibus in every nook and corner of Azad Kashmir.”
Interestingly, the move to appoint Kotli as the apex court’s place of sitting has been initiated by the prime minister himself, ignoring his own stand on the issue.
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