ISLAMABAD: Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz has filed a petition seeking contempt of court proceedings against federal government authorities for suspending him for 90 days.

Mayor Aziz in the petition also asked the court to set aside or at least place his suspension on hold until the adjudication of the petition.

The petition was taken up by Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani.

On Feb 17, the IHC issued a restraining order against the suspension of the mayor when the federal cabinet was about to suspend him.

On Feb 13, the Local Government Commission, headed by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Capital Development Authority (CDA) Affairs MNA Ali Nawaz Awan, decided to proceed against Mr Aziz for a number of charges.

During the Feb 13 meeting, acting Chief Metropolitan Officer Humayun Akhtar, who is also the CDA member engineering, filed a reference with the commission against the mayor.

Mr Awan had also recommended that government suspend the mayor for three months until an inquiry is completed for allegedly utilising the services of two dozen staff members for personal use and official vehicles beyond his entitlement.

However, the cabinet suspended Mr Aziz for alleged misappropriation in the award of a contract for the bus stand in G-9.

His counsel, Adil Aziz Qazi, argued that the government had previously tried to remove him illegally and with mala fide intention, but the court in its Feb 17 order restrained the government from taking any adverse action against him.

The case is still pending and the court’s injunctive order is still in the field, he said, adding that not withstanding all of this, the government had now suspended Mayor Aziz without fulfilling the procedural requirements as well as any legal justification and in violation of the court order.

Additional Attorney General Tariq Mehmood Khokhar submitted that should the court be inclined to suspend the suspension notification, he would accept notices on behalf of the respondents. He asked the court to hear him before suspending the notification.

He said the restraining order was passed without hearing the government, and that as per the record the factual and legal submissions of the mayor’s counsel were not tenable. He argued that the current matter was not relevant to the previous case.

Mr Khokhar said the injunctive order lapsed or at least does not apply, as the criterion of the suspension was complied with. He said he could only assist the court fully after going through the entire record, for which he would need at least two days.

The case was adjourned until May 21.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2020