Islamabad High Court restores Rashid Ahmad as PEMRA chief
The IHC declared null and void the dismissal notification of PEMRA chief Chudhry Rashid Ahmad.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) One member bench of Islamabad High Court comprising Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan resumed the hearing of the case on Thursday.
Secretary Information and acting PEMRA chief Rao Tehseen’s statements were submitted to the court.
In his arguments, counsel of Chaudhry Rashid Waseem Sajjad said that PEMRA chairman could be dismissed after following legal procedure and inquiry into allegations leveled against him.
He said Chaudhry Rashid had been appointed as PEMRA Chairman for four years while he could not be removed without any misconduct.
Waseem Sajjad said that Chaudhry Rashid had been removed only on the basis of fake allegations while the government wanted to appoint a political person on the post to do rigging through electronic media.
In his arguments, counsel of Secretary Information and Establishment Division SA Rehman said that the procedure in the PEMRA Ordinance was for the employees and not for the PEMRA chief.
He said President of Pakistan would decide whether misconduct occurred or not.
SA Rehman said that the caretaker government had also raised the issue. He said that selection board was not constituted for the appointment of Rashid Chaudhry.
The counsel of the Secretary Information appealed to the court to declare the appointment of PEMRA chief null and void.
Acting Chairman PEMRA Rao Tehseen’s counsel, Afnan Karim said that Establishment appoints chief of any department while DG Information issued notification of Chaudhry Rashid’s appointment.
He said summary of Rashid Chaudhry’s appointment was forwarded on January 8 while the Supreme Court had ordered appointment of PEMRA chairman on February 15.
The Islamabad High Court reserved the verdict after hearing of arguments and later announced the decision.
The court ordered reinstatement of Rashid Chaudhry as Chairman PEMRA and declared notification of his dismissal null and void.
