MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Council on Monday filed a Petition for Leave to Appeal (PLA) in the Mirpur circuit of the AJK Supreme Court against a recent judgment of the AJK High Court regarding the appointment of AJK chief election commissioner (CEC).

The High Court had declared on January 12 that the advice of the AJK Council for the appointment of the CEC was not binding on the AJK President if the same was offered without a presidential summary for the purpose.

The Council, which is headed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, sent advice on November 16, 2015 for the appointment of AJK High Court Chief Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal as permanent CEC, in addition to his existing responsibilities.

The advice was not acted upon by the AJK government, maintaining that Mr Mughal’s name had not been listed in the panel sent by the president to the Council.

Meanwhile, the government issued a notification, appointing Justice Mughal as acting CEC under section 6-A of Ordinance XIX, a move which was challenged by two PML-N lawmakers in the High Court.

While the High Court set aside Section 6-A, it observed that the Council could not tender advice on its own and asked the president to send a fresh panel of suitable candidates to the Council within a week.

Challenging the judgment through Advocate Raja Sadaqat Hussain, the Council contended that the High Court had ‘misread, misinterpreted and misconstrues’ the AJK Interim Constitution Act 1974 and law on the subject while ignoring the binding advice of the AJK Council.

“The High Court committed a serious illegality and manifested perversity while observing that the advice of the Council was tendered in vacuum,” the advocate said.

The High Court bench should have declared that it was for the President to act in accordance with the advice; instead it fell in gross illegality to put an embargo on the powers of the Council, in disregard to the spirit of the Constitution, he added.

Mr Hussain argued that the opinion of the AJK Supreme Court given on a presidential reference in October last year was not of binding nature but the High Court had gravely erred in declaring it as a ‘dictum of binding nature.’

The High Court, he contended, had overlooked to follow its own judgment of 2001, which provided that the AJK CEC (Terms and Conditions) Act 2000, enacted by the Council, was a valid law and that the advice of the Council was binding on the AJK President.

He prayed that the impugned judgment should be modified and the respondents be directed to act in accordance with the advice of the Council sent on November 16 of last year and a notification for the appointment of Justice Mughal as CEC should be issued in the interests of justice.

A Supreme Court official told Dawn that notices had been issued to the respondents and the law secretary had been directed to ensure their presence on Wednesday, (January 20) in view of the importance of the case.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2016