ISLAMABAD: Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi, of Islamabad High Court (IHC), on Wednesday, suspended the notification for the appointment of Mansoor Ali Khan as director administration and personnel (DAP) of Pakistan Television (PTV), after an executive manager of the state TV challenged the said appointment.

PTV executive manager, Tasneem Kausar, claimed before the court that the authorities, on February 18, had given her the acting charge of the post of DAP. Meanwhile, a summary for her promotion was also sent to the PTV managing director, which kept on pending.

It may be mentioned that Ms Kausar is also facing contempt proceedings before the same judge, for appointing Dr Nauman Niaz, a physician by profession, as the director sports, in violation of the court order.

Justice Qureshi, on February 4, had restrained the PTV administration from filling the post of the director sports, after senior controller sports, Junaid Chughtai, pointed out some irregularities in the process of the said appointment.

PTV authorities, on March 10, appointed Khan, a grade 19 officer of the federal government, on the position of DAP, while sidelining Ms Kausar.

Challenging the appointment of Khan as DAP, Ms Kausar contended that instead of considering the summary for her promotion, the PTV authorities kept the matter pending till the date they deputed Khan to the post of DAP.

Her counsel, Advocate Shuaib Shaheen, told the court that ignoring the petitioner’s promotion is absolutely malafide, both in facts and law. The counsel claimed that the newly appointed Khan did not fulfill the required criteria for the appointment in question.

He requested the court to set aside the notification for the appointment of Khan as DAP and for passing the directions to the authorities for considering Ms Kausar for promotion to the said post.

Justice Qureshi, after preliminary hearing, temporarily suspended the said notification and directed the secretary ministry of information and broadcasting, managing director PTV, and newly appointed DAP Khan to submit a reply to the petition.