MUZAFFARABAD: While the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed had sought legal opinion from his minister for law on some of his allegedly controversial orders before his departure for Umrah on Wednesday, his successor for the time being, acting premier Chaudhry Mohammad Yasin, got the two officers on special duty (OSD) reinstated as secretaries to government on Friday.

He told Dawn late in the evening that the step had been taken to “end the deadlock between the offices of the prime minister and chief secretary”.

According to a notification issued by the Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD), Chaudhry Munir Hussain was reinstated as secretary S&GAD and Idrees Tabbasam was posted as secretary religious affairs and Auqaf.

The duo was removed by premier Majeed, respectively, from the posts of secretary S&GAD and secretary law on February 26 and March 3 for alleged defiance of his instructions.

Among other postings, incumbent secretary S&GAD Khawaja Mohammad Ahsen was transferred as secretary Tevta in place of Zahid Abbasi who was sent to the Planning and Development Department as planning chief.

Incumbent Secretary Religious Affairs and Auqaf Shaukat Majeed Malik was transferred as secretary population welfare in place of Fida Gardezi, who was attached with S&GAD for further posting.

Normally such notification is issued by the S&GAD’s Gazetted Wing.

However, this one was issued clandestinely by the General Wing at about 4pm, and despite being contacted by Dawn at 7:20pm, additional secretary (Gazetted Wing) Raja Razzaque had denied issuance of the notification.

“As of now the notification has not been issued for want of written approval by the acting premier,” he had maintained.

Earlier, in the day, Kashmir House in the federal capital, cynically referred to as the de-facto capital of the AJK government, was the centre of nerve-racking, aimed at resolving the “administrative crisis” that has badly disturbed the functioning of the Peoples Party-led government here.

“There was a deadlock between the offices of prime minister and chief secretary due to a misunderstanding which has been amicably removed,” Mr Yasin told Dawn.

“We have to run the government and (since) chief secretary is an important organ of the government we resolved this issue. And also because we have to maintain working relation with the federal government,” he added.

When his attention was drawn to Prime Minister Majeed’s confidential letter to Minister for Law Azhar Hussain Gillani for legal opinion on the issue of the posting and transfers made by him, particularly when they were challenged in the high court by PML-N, Mr Yasin maintained that the matter was not sub-judice because the PML-N had not sought any stay order on postings.

“Raja Farooq Haider (PML-N chief) has also termed these transfers (made by PM Majeed) as unlawful,” he said.