ISLAMABAD: In a surprise move, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday reinstated Zaka Ashraf as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman while disposing of intra-court appeals filed by Mr Ashraf, PCB and Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) ministry.

An IHC division bench comprising Justice Riaz Ahmad Khan and Justice Noor-ul-Haq N. Qureshi reserved judgement on these appeals on Dec 17.

The IHC single bench comprising Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui had suspended Zaka in June last year and in a subsequent judgement of July 4 declared his appointment as PCB chairman illegal.

Zaka through his counsel Afnan Karim Kundi challenged the order.

Caretaker PCB chief Najam Sethi and the IPC ministry through Asma Jahangir filed appeals against the same judgement of Justice Siddiqui.

The division bench in its 38-page judgement validated the decisions of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) headed by Sethi taken in the absence of Zaka.

The bench observed that the removal of Zaka was made in violation of the set principles of law as he had been condemned unheard.

It further observed that the removal of Zaka was beyond the scope of article 199 of the constitution under which the petition against his appointment had been filed in the IHC.