MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government on Thursday invalidated a notification from the date of issuance whereby a retired police officer was re-employed as head of the region’s Technical and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta) apart from being given the additional charge of Central Board of Revenue (CBR) chief.

Faheem Ahmed Abbasi, who was serving as additional inspector general of police, was assigned the additional charge of the post of chairman CBR by Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas in May this year while overruling arguments by the chief secretary and the secretary services and general administration (S&GAD), opposing the move.

Prior to Mr Abbasi, the charge of this position was held by the additional chief secretary-general.

Mr Abbasi was among those five officers belonging to the AJK services who the previous PML-N government had granted BS-22 as personal pay scale.

On Oct 1, when he attained the age of superannuation, Prime Minister Ilyas approved his re-employment as chairman of AJK Tevta with effect from Oct 2 on contract basis [and] “subject to the recommendations of a committee constituted vide an S&GAD notification issued on February, 20, 2010.”

The same notification further stated that Mr Abbasi would continue to hold the charge of chairman CBR till further orders.

However, the second part of the notification was strongly resented by Minister for Finance and Inland Revenue Abdul Majid Khan on the grounds that assignment of this charge to a retired officer amounted to sheer violation of the law that governed the AJK’s apex taxation body.

Sources close to the finance minister claimed that in a summary to PM Ilyas, he had also threatened that he would resign from the cabinet in case the “unlawful” order regarding Mr Abbasi was not withdrawn forthwith.

However, on Thursday, Mr Abbasi moved the AJK High Court for a “protection stay” praying that the government should be restrained from revoking the Oct 1 notification about his appointment.

However, the court did not grant his plea and instead declared that it would serve notices to the government through the S&GAD for its response in this matter.

Following the non-acceptance of Mr Abbasi’s plea, the S&GAD notified, under the approval of PM Ilyas, cancellation of the Oct 1 notification from the date of issuance.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2022