MUZAFFARABAD: The legal fraternity across Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) will observe a strike on Thursday to press the government to cancel a ‘controversial’ notification whereby the authority to appoint civil judges and tehsil qazis was transferred from the Public Service Commission (PSC) to the AJK High Court and Shariat Court.

“No lawyer will appear before any court on Thursday to register their indignation against the unethical, unlawful and unconstitutional move of the previous government taken just 10 days after the announcement of the election schedule,” said the AJK Bar Council in a statement on Tuesday.

Last year, the AJK High Court and Shariat Court had sent a proposal to the government for amendment to the AJK Judicial Service Rules 2011 and the AJK Shariat Court (Qaza Branch) Service Rules 2014, envisaging recruitment against these posts through their own selection boards.

The high court chief justice also happens to be the chief justice of the Shariat Court.

In a summary initiated on January 18 for the then prime minister, the then secretary law had opined that under the AJK PSC (Functions) Rule 7, “the government could recruit eligible persons, in the public interest, against certain posts through any appropriate procedure, without referring the same to the PSC.”

On January 24, the prime minister assented to the summary but when it reached the office of the chief secretary, he sought a report from the Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD) along with inputs from the PSC.

Not only the S&GAD opposed the move, while banking on the judgments of the superior courts, the PSC chairman Justice retired Khawaja Shahad Ahmed also took strong exception to it, terming it “offending and totally incorrect under law.”

However, a notification to this effect was issued by the law department amid the hustle and bustle of electioneering on June 16.

In its Tuesday’s statement, the bar council said the controversial notification was issued in complete disregard to the reservations of the lawyers.

When the notification was issued, the bar council reiterated its stance, but stopped short of a strike only because general elections were round the corner and a change of government was imminent.

On August 12, the bar council renewed its demand about the revocation of the notification. It brought the matter in the notice of Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider, who also agreed with its standpoint, the statement added.

However, the implementation of notification had started as the high court had recently advertised some 17 posts of civil judges to be recruited by its own selection board.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2016