ISLAMABAD: Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended on Thursday his own order of reinstating Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) chairman Saeed Ahmed Khan on the federal government’s request.

Additional Attorney General Afnan Karim Kundi asked Justice Qureshi to suspend the March 17 judgment to set aside the ‘forced leave’ of the Ogra chairman.

He said the government was going to file an intra court appeal against the March 17 order and requested the court to suspend the operation on the order till the filing of the appeal.

Take a look: IHC reinstates Ogra chairman

He said if the court would not suspend the order, Mr Khan would resume the charge of Ogra chairman.

To maintain consistency, Mr Kundi said, the implementation of the order might be stayed.

The cabinet division had on Feb 11 sent Mr Khan on ‘forced leave’ in connection with his alleged role in January’s oil crisis. It had also requested the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) to conduct an inquiry against him.

As a makeshift arrangement, the government had assigned the charge of Ogra chairman to Amir Nasim, a member of the authority.

But when Mr Khan informed the IHC that Mr Nasim was also facing an inquiry before the FPSC, the charge of the post was given to the secretary of the cabinet division, Babar Yaqoob.

Through his lawyer Asma Jahangir, Mr Khan has challenged the decision to send him on ‘forced leave’.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2015

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