Supreme Court of AJK rejects ex-PM AJK Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan’s plea for his immediate reinstatement

MUZAFFARABAD, April 13 (SABAH): The Supreme Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday rejected the plea of former prime minister of Azad Kashmir, Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan, for his immediate reinstatement. The court has rejected the plea of Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan for issuing stay order against the punishment awarded him to by Azad Jammu and Kashmir High Court in contempt of court case. The court has decided to hear the appeal of Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan on merit. The court has summoned reply from Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan in two weeks.

The appeal of Sardar Tanveer Ilyas was heard by a full bench headed by Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram, and included Justice Raza Ali Khan and Justice Khawaja Naseem.

The chief justice remarked that the former prime minister did not tender unconditional apology. He said that if there was any insult, I apologize, the chief justice observed.

The chief justice said that the former prime minister has no regard for the House and the office of prime minister. He said he would remove judges. He cannot remove a peon without following a due procedure, the chief justice added. The assembly makes the law, we only interpret it, he continued.

The counsel for former premier submitted that his client was not given an opportunity to explain. The constitution gives every citizen an opportunity to clarify the allegations leveled against him.

Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram remarked that his rhetoric was played on the multimedia and Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan acknowledged it. When he admitted that he uttered insulting words in front of the court, should the court seek apology?

The chief justice said that the former prime minister said that if this is an insult, he apologizes. He is a straight forward man and admitted his mistake. If a judge commits a mistake, he would face contempt proceedings, Chief Justice Akram said.

It may be noted that the Azad Kashmir High Court disqualified Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan for contempt of court two days ago and he filed an appeal against the decision in the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Supreme Court fixed the petition of disqualified AJK Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan against his disqualification for hearing on Thursday.

The Supreme Court had already dismissed his petition filed against a decision of the high court’s full bench regarding his ouster for contempt of court.

During the hearing, Chief Justice Akram objected to the title of the petition, saying Sardar Tanveer had been mentioned as prime minister in it despite his disqualification. “Why have you addressed him as current PM instead of former in the plea?” the top judge rebuked his legal team.

The top judge asked him to come up with a new plea on Thursday after which the court would decide about its maintainability.

On Tuesday, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court disqualified Tanveer Ilyas Khan from holding any public office after he was found guilty of contempt of court. A full bench announced the verdict in a contempt notice taken after he criticised the stay orders issued by court at a public meeting. The former premier had also appeared before the court and tendered his unconditional apology over using contemptuous remarks against the judiciary.

However, the bench turned down his apology and disqualified him as AJK prime minister and revoked his membership of the AJK assembly. He is the first AJK prime minister to have been sent packing by court.

Meanwhile, senior minister Khawaja Farooq Ahmed has been appointed acting prime minister of AJK by President Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry. It may be recalled that Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan is the first prime minister in the history of Azad Kashmir who has been disqualified for contempt of court.