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Wednesday, November 20, 2013
SC rejects plea to appoint top general as next COASStaff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has rejected a petition requesting that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif be restrained from appointing the next chief of army staff (COAS) strictly on basis of seniority.
Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is retiring on November 29, while the government is ostensibly in a state of indecision on the appointment of his successor. A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, after hearing petitioner Shahid Orakzai’s arguments regarding his appeal that he filed in the apex court against the Islamabad High Court order, dismissed it.
Orakzai had filed a civil petition in the apex court under Article 185 (3) of the constitution against Islamabad High Court (IHC) order dated May 22, 2013. The IHC had dismissed Orakzai’s writ petition for lack of locus standi, stating that the petitioner was not a military officer. Justice Jamali told the petitioner that if he thinks that the appointment of the COAS was made in violation of the constitution or the law then he could approach the court. He said the constitution has authorised the prime minister to appoint the COAS according to law. Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, a member of the bench, told Orakzai that when he had filed the petition against Nawaz Sharif in the Islamabad High Court the post of COAS was not vacant.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk