MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court on Monday suspended, until July 2, the operation of an AJK High Court order granting interim relief to the PTI in its dispute with the Election Commission over the party’s registration.

On June 23, the AJK High Court had directed the Election Commission to provisionally register PTI as a political party, effectively suspending the commission’s May 16 decision rejecting the party’s registration application.

The short order was announced by a three-member bench headed by senior puisne judge Syed Shahid Bahar and comprising Justices Sardar Muhammad Ejaz and Khalid Rasheed Chaudhry.

The interim order was passed by Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram on an application filed by the Election Commission under Rules 1 and 2 of Order VI of the Supreme Court Rules, 1978, seeking ex parte ad interim relief during the pendency of its petition for leave to appeal (PLA) against the high court’s June 23 order.

PTI counsel Yasir Safeer Mughal appeared before the court and sought an adjournment, submitting that he was unable to prepare a case properly. The request was accepted, and the registrar’s office was directed to fix the application for hearing before the full court on July 2.

Pending the hearing, the chief justice ordered that the operation of the high court’s June 23 order, to the extent that it granted interim relief, would remain in abeyance.

The order said the court had taken into account the overall facts and circumstances of the case, the settled principles governing the grant of interim relief — including the existence of a prima facie arguable case, the balance of convenience and the likelihood of irreparable loss — as well as the affidavit filed in support of the application.

Election Commission counsel Tahir Aziz Khan, Advocate General Raja Nadeem Khan and others were present during the proceedings.

On May 16, the commission had rejected PTI’s application for registration, citing alleged non-fulfilment of Rule 121 of the Election Rules concerning financial affairs and details of accounts provided by the applicant party. Terming the move unconstitutional and undemocratic, PTI leaders had announced challenging it at the appropriate forums.