Ch. Afrasiab Khan, ASC, represented the successful Petitioner in a Petition for Writ of Certiorari before the Honourable Islamabad High Court. He was assisted by Ch. Imran Hassan Ali, Advocate. The Petitioner, Muhammad Azhar Chughtai, was employed as Manager (S&FA) in the Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd. (OGDCL). He was wrongfully terminated from service. The High Court set aside the termination by holding that the Deputy Chief HR Officer had wrongly bypassed the the Board of Directors in issuing the termination letter, which was, therefore, without lawful authority. The Court further held that the termination was a mala fide response by OGDCL to Mr. Chughtai’s plea for regularisation in service. Consequently, the Court ordered that the Petitioner would be deemed to have never been terminated. He will also be entitled to full pay and benefits for the period he was kept out of office.
Ch. Imran Hassan Ali represented the successful appellant, Liaquat Ali, in a criminal appeal against conviction. Liaquat Ali had been convicted of murder and sentenced to imprisonment for life by the Trial Court. He had already served 9 and a half years in prison when his appeal was finally allowed by the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench, on 26-02-2013 and he was acquitted of all charges against him. However, the Court upheld the conviction and sentence of his co-accused, Altaf Hussain, who was represented by another counsel.
The Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan has declared the Contempt of Court Act, 2012, as ultra vires of the Constitution. Ch. Afrasiab Khan, ASC, represented one of the Petitioners who had challenged the law. The judgment is reported as “Baz Muhammad Kakar and others vs. Federation of Pakistan etc.” (PLD 2012 SC 870)
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Ch. Imran Hassan Ali recently testified as an Expert Witness in the High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Court of First Instance. The case pertained to succession to the estate of Abid Hussain (deceased) – a man of Pakistani origin – whose estate included assets in Hong Kong as well as in Pakistan. Imran was requested to provide an Affidavit of Law regarding the Pakistani law of succession and how it applied to the estate of Abid Hussain.