MUZAFFARABAD, Aug 30: Chief Justice of the Azad Jammu Kashmir High Court Reaz Akhtar Chaudhry on Monday suspended 10 junior grade judicial employees and served show-cause notices on some revenue and judicial officers for being absent from their respective offices.

A handout issued by the high court's registrar said that additional district magistrate Raja Amjad Pervez, assistant commissioner (class I magistrate) Muhammad Tayyab, revenue officer (class I magistrate) Syed Maqsood Hussain Shah were not present in their respective offices when the chief justice visited the district courts in the morning.

The subordinate staff of these revenue officers was also absent and no cause list was displayed outside their courtrooms, the handout said. The chief justice ordered these officers to personally appear before him on Thursday and explain why they should not be stripped of their magisterial powers.

During the visit, when the chief justice asked the tehsildar about the cause list, he said that his reader kept files locked in a box and that he had not yet come to office. An explanation was also sought from him in this regard.

The district Qazi, Nizamuddin, tehsil Qazi Abdul Shakoor, traffic magistrate Mrs Shamim Khalid were also found to be absent from their offices and the chief justice ordered to serve notices upon them, asking them to show-cause under efficiency and discipline rules.

The chief justice also suspended 10 judicial employees identified as Mohammad Bashir, Syed Aftab Hussain Shah, Shaikh Mohammad Iqbal (readers); Mohammad Daud (registrations clerk); Raja Shaukat Hayat (deed writer); Anis Ahmed, Mohibur Rehman, Masoom Ali Gillani, Sartaj Hussain Shah Bukhari, Niaz Muhammad (junior clerks) serving in the offices of district and session judge Muzaffarabad, district Qazi, civil judge and traffic magistrate and sought a report in this regard within three days.

He directed the district and session judge Mr Azhar Salim Babar to ensure administrative control over subordinate staff.