Islamabad - A former additional registrar of Islamabad High Court has approached the court against his forced retirement.
Ex-additional registrar of IHC Ijaz Ahmad moved the Islamabad High Court through his counsel Asma Jehangir Advocate and challenged his forced retirement on the basis of an inquiry.
In the said inquiry, the petitioner was alleged of being guilty of leaking IHC internal audit report to the media where audit objections were made on appointments in IHC without advertisement and test interview criteria. In his petition, Ijaz Ahmad nominated IHC as respondent while it is yet to be fixed for hearing.
It was August 20 when Ijaz Ahmad was sent on compulsory retirement through a notification which says, “The authorised officer (of inquiry) recommended to the authority for imposition of the major penalty.”
In February 2013, four IHC officials were put under suspension over allegations of leaking internal audit report to the media and they faced a departmental inquiry in this regard.
The other three officials included Deputy Registrar Mohammad Sarfraz Sharif, Assistant Accounts Officer Mohammad Ashiq and Assistant Mohammad Waseem Khan, however, they were demoted to one step down.
The petitioner contended that he proceeded with the internal audit of IHC in compliance with the orders of the chief justice. The audit report was prepared by Controller General of Accounts (CGOA) that indicated flaws in the appointment process in the IHC. In January last, a petition was also filed in the apex Supreme Court of Pakistan challenging 74 appointments in the IHC based on the said internal audit report. That petition is still pending adjudication. The report had mentioned that the procedure of advertising the vacancies and filling them through open competition, after conducting tests/interviews, was totally ignored in the appointments.
Former additional registrar Ijaz Ahmed was also faced with the charges that he had opposed the appointments of certain officers/officials made by the former chief justice in this honorable court….. “thus you challenged the authority of the chief justice and are guilty of insubordination.”
The petitioner in his petition has argued that he placed his opinion that appointments (in the IHC) should be made after publication of the posts in the newspapers having wider circulation.
He further contended that the auditors had presented the report of the internal audit to the then registrar for onward submission to the chief justice with a proposal for its circulation among all branches concerned.
And the authorities never probed who leaked the internal audit report as at a time when it appeared in the media, the petitioner was not holding the relevant office.
Ijaz Ahmed has also raised objections over the appointment of inquiry officers Attiq-ur-Rehman and Meeran Jan Kakar. He said that Attiq-ur-Rehman was the IHC registrar at the time when the appointments were made in the IHC and the internal audit was conducted when Kakar was the IHC registrar adding that both the officers should not be judge in their own cause.
He adopted that the entire proceedings against him were made on the basis of presumptions. Therefore, he prayed to the court to quash the inquiry proceedings and restore him to his job.