MUZAFFARABAD, March 27: The appointment of the Chief Justice of Azad Jammu and Kashmir was challenged in the AJK High Court by a group of lawyers on Tuesday.

“The appointment of Justice Reaz Akhtar Chaudhry as Chief Justice is in violation of rule of seniority, dictums of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, constitutional conventions and past practices and should, therefore, be set aside,” the lawyers said in a petition to be taken up by AJK High Court Acting Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Nawaz Khan on Wednesday.

The petitioners include Azad Kashmir Supreme Court Bar Association secretary-general Sardar Karam Dad Khan, AJK Bar Council member Raja Sajjad Ahmed and advocates Syed Mumtaz Hussain Naqvi, Abdul Qadeer Awan, Syed Mushtaq Hussain Gillani, Waqar Hussain Kazmi, Raja Iqbal Rasheed Minhas and Mohammad Sabir Akbar Khan.

Justice Reaz Akhtar Chaudhry, who is also Azad Kashmir’s acting chief election commissioner, was appointed chief justice on Oct 21 last year, superseding the senior-most judge, Justice Syed Manzoor Hussain Gillani, who went on leave on the day as a mark of protest.

Quoting section 42 (8) of the AJK interim constitution which says that the senior-most judge of the supreme court can be appointed as its acting chief justice, the petitioners stated that if an acting CJ had to be the senior-most judge how could a junior judge be appointed as permanent chief justice.

They sought an ‘authoritative judgment’ with regard to interpretation of section 42 (4) (8) of the interim constitution.

According to the interim constitution, the chief justice is appointed by the AJK president on the advice of the AJK Council, the upper house of the AJK legislature headed by the prime minister of Pakistan.

"The chairman (prime minister of Pakistan), federal minister in-charge, secretary and joint-secretary of the AJK Council secretariat are under legal obligation to appoint the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court as chief justice, but they have ignored dictums of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, constitutional provisions and past traditions, thus infringing upon the fundamental rights of the people of AJK as enshrined in section 4 (8) and (15) of the interim constitution," the petitioners contended.

The petitioners appealed to the court to interpret the word "advice" as to whether this advice was a sole discretion of the AJK Council as an executive authority or had to be given by due application of mind, carefully and judiciously.

They noted that the heads of AJK political parties had raised serious objections to the appointment of Justice Reaz Akhtar through the media and other forums on the grounds that he was appointed acting CEC to conduct elections which the government of Pakistan wanted to secure in favour of the Muslim Conference. After the election, he was elevated to the apex court and in less than a month was appointed chief justice, they added.