MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court on Thursday declared the appointment of all politically-appointed heads of development authorities in different districts as illegal for want of any proper procedure and process to judge the suitability of the incumbents.

The judgement was announced by the full court bench, headed by Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram Khan, while upholding the decision of the AJK High Court in this regard.

On August 16 this year, Rashid Afraz, a resident of Rawalakot, had challenged the appointment of Amir Jaleel as chairman of Pearl Development Authority (PDA) Rawalakot in the high court.

On Sept 5 — four days before the government withdrew the appointment of Mr Jaleel — the high court disposed of the petition with a direction to the government to frame rules for the posts of the heads of these authorities in the light of the guidelines given by the apex court of Pakistan within two months or otherwise all the posts would stand vacant.

Calling the said judgment into question in the AJK apex court, the counsel for the government contended that since the impugned notification was cancelled by the government during the pendency of the petition, the proper course for the high court was to drop proceedings on this sole ground but it disposed of the petition while recording “uncalled-for findings.”

However, the objection was dismissed by the apex court bench while holding that the courts could not behave like silent spectators over transgressions in the guise of such actions.

“The development authorities are not justifying their creation and have instead become a burden on the public exchequer… Therefore, it’s high time to wake up and revive these institutions through object-oriented rules and solid steps,” the apex court bench said.

“Since presently no qualification has been specified for the heads of development authorities and no method or rules have been provided for judging their suitability by any proper board or committee, the court is left with no other option but to declare all the appointments of the heads of the development authorities illegal,” the bench held, adding, all incumbents would cease to hold the offices immediately.

The bench directed the law secretary to place the matter before the concerned forum for making uniform object-oriented rules for all the posts of heads of the development authorities within three months.

Till proper rules were framed, the charge of these authorities in Mirpur and Muzaffarabad should be assigned to the chief engineers of physical planning and housing or communications and works departments and in other districts to the superintending engineers of the same departments.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2022