Muzaffarabad, July 13: The Chief Justice of Pakistan administered Kashmir's High Court,f Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal, has directed the Auditor General of Pakistan, Federal Ministry of Kashmir affairs and three others to file their comments on a petition seeking annulment of the transfer of PaK’s former Accountant General (AG) Tahir Mahmud as well as probe into the alleged misappropriation of funds in the AJK Council.
 The petition has been filed by Raja Akhtar Hussain and Raja Mumtaz Khan, president and secretary general, respectively, of the PaK Pensioners Association under section 44 of the PaK’s Interim Constitution Act 1974 and it will come up for comments and preliminary arguments on July 24.
 Apart from the AGP, who also happens to be Auditor General of Pakistan administered Kashmir under the region’s interim constitution and the federal ministry of Kashmir affairs, the PaK government, the PaK Council and the PaK Ehtesab Bureau have also been made respondents in the petition, wherein the petitioners, through their counsel Muhammad Yaqoob Mughal, have prayed for declaration of the June 20, 2012 order of the AGP regarding transfer of AG Tahir Mahmud as “violative of relevant law, rules, procedure and practice, based on mala-fide and outcome of misuse of power.”
 The June 20 order was endorsed by the federal ministry of Kashmir affairs after a week, but with retrospective effect allegedly under the pressure of elements being accused of benefiting from alleged corruption in the PaK Council.
 The petitioners have also prayed that the Ehtesab Bureau be directed to probe into the matter of misappropriation of funds committed by the staff of PaK Council, followed by their trial in the relevant court of law.
 They also pleaded that the AG Mahmud, who had filed two references in the PaK Ehtesab Bureau about huge corruption in the PaK Council, should not be disturbed until the completion of the probe by the Ehtesab Bureau.
However, the CJ directed the respondents to file their objections on the petitioners’ application for interim relief, on the next date of hearing.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 13 Jul 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 13 Jul 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 14 Jul 2012 00:00:00 IST