IHC dismisses government petition to restrain PEMRA chief

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 27 May 2015

The Islamabad High Court ruled against the federal government's plea to restrain Chaudhry Rashid Ahmed from his position at PEMRA. The court found that due process was not followed in his termination.

Summary

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court Wednesday dismissed the federal government’s plea to restrain Chaudhry Rashid Ahmed from resuming charge of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi heard the application filed on behalf of the federal government by Additional Attorney General Afnan Karim Kundi. Kundi informed the court that Chaudhry Rashid had taken charge as PEMRA chief saying, “instead of supplying a copy of the court verdict and its submission to relevant department he went straight to the PEMRA headquarters and took charge of the chairman’s office.” Justice Qureshi inquired whether “petitioner (Chaudhry Rashid) needs any approval of the government after obtaining a court order?” “The government is ready to implement the court directives in letter and spirit but there are some guidelines given in the rules of business which should have been followed,” Kundi contended. On Dec 15, 2013, the PML-N government terminated Chaudhary Rashid Ahmed's contract and appointed Tehsin Ali Khan as acting chairman of the authority. The IHC reinstated him Monday (May 25) observing that ‘due process’ was not adopted for the said termination.