PBC concerned at 'ouster' of CJ of AJ&K

Vice-Chairman Pakistan Bar Council Amjad Shah has expressed serious concern on purportedly unconstitutional "ouster" of Chief Justice of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) High Court Tabassum Aftab Alvi.

A PBC press release issued by its secretary said that Justice Tabassum Aftab Alvi was appointed as judge of the AJK High Court in February 2011. Subsequently in April 2017, Alvi was elevated to the post of chief justice of the AJK High Court. He stated that it is ironical that despite Alvi remained on the bench for more than 8 years, he has been ousted from the coveted post on "flimsy grounds".

The PBC press release noted that previously Alvi's appointment was challenged twice, once by the present petitioner, but the petitions so filed were dismissed once by a single-member bench and the other by a division bench of the high court and the said decisions later on were also upheld by the Supreme Court of AJK.

The vice-chairman Pakistan Bar Council while severely criticizing the "ouster" of Justice Tabassum Aftab Alvi termed it as unconstitutional and an attack on the independence of AJK judiciary and legal fraternity.