MUZAFFARABAD, Aug 21: AJK High Court Chief Justice Syed Manzoor Hussain Gillani has removed a grade-18 judge from service for misconduct, a notification said on Wednesday.

Family judge Abdur Rahim Zubair Butt was removed by the CJ under Section 3(1) of the Removal from Service (Special Powers) Act, 2001, in the light of the recommendations of an inquiry committee.

Though the notification did not carry details, sources in the high court, told Dawn that the judge was removed for impersonating an army general to pressure the CJ into cancelling his transfer from his hometown.

Mr Butt was transferred as Bagh family judge from the position of Kotli senior civil judge with a number of other transfers of judicial officers on Jan 17. The CJ received a phone call two days later at his office from someone who introduced himself as Gen Ashfaq Kayani and told him that “the chief executive (Gen Musharraf) had received complaints about unjust transfers in the AJK judiciary.” During the hour-long call, the caller particularly referred to Mr Butt and said he had been subjected to hardship.

Maj-Gen Kayani served as Murree general officer commanding and in that capacity acted as in charge of the AJK affairs after the military takeover.

The CJ, sources said, told the caller that it sounded strange that the chief executive had been approached for such a trivial matter. But, even if it was true, only Mr Butt could had done so, he said.

As the CJ reached his home, he received a call from Mr Butt, who thanked Justice Gillani for transferring him to Bagh and said some people might propagate otherwise but he had no objection to his posting.

Having become suspicious, the CJ issued a show-cause notice to Mr Butt, in response to which he stated that the call at the CJ’s office had been made to cause damage to him.

The CJ, the sources said, sought the telephone bills of the judicial officers transferred and the bill of Mr Butt showed that a 58-minute call was made from his number to the CJ’s office on Jan 19. On this, Mr Butt, according to sources, maintained that his connection might had been misused.