MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court will take up on Monday a petition calling into question the recently constituted AJK Public Service Commission (PSC) under an amended piece of law, a court official said here on Monday.

The petitioners – former AJK Assembly speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir and others – have prayed through advocate Raja Sajjad Ahmed that the AJK Public Service Commission (Amendment) Act, 2014, be declared ultra-vires the AJK’s Interim Constitution and the appointments of private respondents (PSC chairman and eight members) made hereunder on August 15 and September 1, 2014, be also declared without lawful authority.

It may be recalled that in February this year the AJK Supreme Court had upheld an earlier judgment of the AJK High Court, whereby the AJK PSC (Amendment) Ordinance, 2012 was declared ultra-vires the Interim Constitution and the original AJK PSC Act, 1986, subsequently setting aside the appointments of (the then) PSC chairman and nine members.

Both the courts had directed the government to bring suitable amendment to the PSC Act 1986, providing similar qualifications for the members as were laid down in the Federal PSC Act and the Punjab PSC Act.

However, it took almost four months for the government to enact an amended law and another two months to make appointments of the chairman and members.

According to the amended law, the PSC members include four retired AJK officers in BPS-20 or above, two educationists to be appointed from amongst the retired officers of BPS-20 or above, one retired judge of superior judiciary or a retired district and session judge in BPS-21, one women possessing PhD or masters degree and 20 years relevant experience in public or private sector; one technocrat and one retired army officer not below the rank of Lt-Col.

On August 15, the government appointed former Supreme Court chief justice Khawaja Shahad Ahmed as chairman and Khawaja Mohammad Saleem Bismil, Manzoor Ahmed Kiani, Mohammad Saeed Mughal (retired secretaries to government), Chaudhry Ghulam Mustafa (retired commissioner), Prof Aslam Zafar, Prof M. Kabir Chughtai (retired BPS-20 officers of education dept), Khurshid Ahmed Rathore (advocate) and Prof Rafiah Shireen (ex-principal) as members. Another member, retired Brig Jamil Azam, was appointed on September 1.

Advocate Raja Sajjad Ahmed, who had also represented the previous petitioners, drew a comparison between the laws governing the FPSC and Punjab PSC and the recently enacted AJK PSC (Amendment) Act and alleged that the government had blatantly violated the judgments of the AJK superior judiciary, despite the fact that the same had attained finality and were binding.

He maintained that when the powers, functions and the duties of the FPSC, Punjab PSC and AJK PSC were similar in nature and when the provision of law, functions and powers of institutions, and pay and privileges of civil servants in the federal government, Punjab and AJK were also similar, it was imperative that the standard and status of the PSC in AJK should also be similar to that of the FPSC and Punjab PSC.

However, contrarily, the AJK government while “violating the dictum of the superior courts with mala fide intention and to adjust its favourites” had downgraded the AJK PSC, he claimed.

The appointments of private respondents had been made on the basis of personal as well as political liking and disliking, without complying the rule of law laid down by the superior courts, he said.

Published in Dawn, September 16th , 2014