SC suspends its 2018 verdict on state-run TV MD’s appointment

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Thursday suspended its 2018 judgment declaring as illegal the appointment of a noted columnist and playwright as the managing director of the state-run television.

A three-member bench of the apex court — headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa — heard the review petitions filed by former MD Ataul Haq Qasmi, former finance minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar and former minister for information and broadcasting Pervez Rashid.

The court suspended its earlier judgment till the next date of hearing of the review petitions and issued notices to the federal government as well as the television management.

Last year in June, a three-member bench of the apex court — headed by the-then Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial — had accepted the review petitions and adjourned the hearing for date-in-office (indefinite period).

On November 8, 2018, a three-member bench of the apex court — headed by the-then Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, while hearing a suo motu case, had declared as illegal the appointment of Ataul Haq Qasmi as the managing director of state-run TV and appointment of a full-time managing director by fulfilling all legal, procedural and codal formalities strictly in accordance with law. The other members of the bench included Justice Umer Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsen.