MUZAFFARABAD, June 16 The AJK government on Tuesday appointed chairman and five members of the Public Service Commission moments after the high court admitted a writ petition filed by the former chairman and five members against their dismissal for regular hearing but did not grant them interim relief.

Except for one name, all other appointments were made exactly in accordance with a summary which Prime Minister Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob Khan had held in abeyance since April following serious reservations and objections by some members of the ruling coalition. Though Sardar Mohammad Latif Khan, former secretary works, immediately assumed his responsibilities as PSC chairman, the official notification regarding his appointment as well as of the other five members - Raja Abdur Rauf (a retired revenue department official), Dr Raja Manzoor Ahmed (retired DG animal husbandry department), Dr Raja Mohammad Mushtaq (former Jamaat-i-Islami leader), Prof Tanveer Akhtar and Prof (retired) Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim - was surprisingly not available anywhere in the government offices.

“It (notification) has been issued today but not circulated,” a Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD) official told Dawn.According to sources, the PSC chairman and five members are, respectively, the nominees of Prime Minister Sardar Yaqoob Khan, law minister Raja Nisar Ahmed Khan, President Raja Zulqarnain Khan, Muslim Conference (forward bloc) president Raja Farooq Haider, health minister Sardar Qamaruz Zaman and Legislative Assembly Speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir.Sources said the initial summary also carried the name of Khwaja Mohammad Hanif, a nominee of People's Party AJK president Chaudhry Abdul Majeed. However, his name was dropped from the Tuesday's notification and instead a separate summary was being moved to appoint one Chaudhry Arid Katariya, reportedly a nominee former AJK council member Chaudhry Matloob Inqilabi, as the sixth member. It may be recalled that the present government had sacked the former PSC chairman Brig (retired) Saeed Akhtar and five members on March 12 while announcing that it would revamp the constitutional institution and rid it of political interference.

The previous government had also increased the strength of PSC members from 7 to 9 through an ordinance which was not extended by the incumbent government.

The sacked PSC chairman and members challenged their termination in the high court and their petition was initially taken up by the acting chief justice and lately by a division bench, comprising Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal and Justice Rafiullah Sultani. The division bench held preliminary hearing on Monday and declared on Tuesday the admission of petition for regular hearing as it involved important law points. However, the bench did to suspend the notification regarding the removal of petitioners.

The counsel for the petitioners told Dawn the decision would be challenged in the apex court on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the sudden appointment of PSC chairman and members had taken many ministers by surprise and sources said the “hasty move” was likely to invite troubles for the prime minister.