AJK Supreme Court puts off hearing on plea against PTI’s provisional registration

MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court on Thursday deferred proceedings on the Election Commission’s application seeking ex parte ad interim relief against a high court order that had directed the provisional registration of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as a political party.

A full court comprising Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram, Justice Raza Ali Khan and Justice Khalid Yousaf Chaudhary ruled that the application would be heard together with the Election Commission’s petition for leave to appeal (PLA), once scrutiny of the appeal is completed by the court’s registry.

The dispute stems from an AJK High Court order issued on June 23, which directed the Election Commission to provisionally register PTI as a political party. That order had the effect of suspending the commission’s May 16 decision rejecting the party’s registration request.

After the high court ruling, the Election Commission moved the AJK Supreme Court by filing a petition for leave to appeal. It also submitted an application under Rules 1 and 2 of Order VI of the Supreme Court Rules, 1978, seeking ex parte ad interim relief pending disposal of the appeal.

Previous proceedings

At an earlier hearing, PTI counsel Yasir Safeer Mughal had sought an adjournment, telling the court he was not sufficiently prepared to argue the matter. Following that request, Chief Justice Akram ordered that operation of the AJK High Court’s June 23 order, to the extent that it granted interim relief to PTI, would remain in abeyance until July 2.

When the case was taken up again on Thursday, the apex court ordered that the commission’s application for interim relief would be heard alongside the PLA instead of being decided separately at this stage.

No date was fixed for the next hearing. However, the Supreme Court is due to begin its summer recess on Monday, and the break will continue until Oct 7.

Registration status remains unresolved before polls

With no hearing date announced before the start of the court vacation, the matter is unlikely to be taken up before the elections. This means the legal position regarding PTI’s provisional registration is expected to remain unsettled during the electoral process.

The case concerns whether the Election Commission’s refusal to register PTI, issued on May 16, should stand, or whether the high court’s direction for provisional registration will ultimately remain in effect, subject to the outcome of the appeal now pending before the AJK Supreme Court.