ISLAMABAD: A division bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC) dismissed the intra court appeal filed by Mohammad Malick against an order of an IHC single bench, which, on June 24, declared the appointment of Mr Malick as managing director (MD) Pakistan Television (PTV) illegal.

The single bench, comprising Justice Siddiqui, observed that the appointment was not transparent and had directed the federal government to fill the position according to the rules.

IHC division bench, comprising IHC Chief Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi and Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi, dismissed the appeal after preliminary hearing.

During the hearing, advocate Mohammad Akram Sheikh representing MD PTV adopted before the court that 93 candidates had applied for the said post, out of which five were called for an interview. After short-listing, names of two candidates – Mohammad Malick and Jamal Shah – were forwarded to the prime minister, who selected Mr Malick.

He pointed out that the same procedure was adopted for the appointment of heads for different government departments. Advocate Sheikh said Mr Malick, prior to joining the network, had cleared the outstanding dues of his spouse’s firm towards PTV.

The petitioner, Mustafa Kamal Qazi, alleged that the committee constituted for the appointment of MD PTV awarded 67 marks to Mr Shah and 66 to Mr Malick.

The petition also pointed out that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had reported that a production house, run by Mr Malick’s spouse, was a defaulter of PTV. It also alleged that being only a graduate, Mr Malick did not qualify for the post.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2014