Ch. Imran Hassan Ali, Advocate, represented the successful appellants in an Intra-Court Appeal before a Division Bench of the Honourable Islamabad High Court. Two Appellants were Deputy Secretaries and one was Joint Secretary in the National Assembly Secretariat. They applied for allotment of plots in schemes developed by the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF). Their applications were rejected. FGEHF was of the view that emloyees of Constitutional Bodies like the National Assembly and Senate of pakistan etc. are not entitled to allotment of plots under FGEHF policy. The Appellants initially filed a Writ Petition, which was dismissed by a judge-in-chambers. They then engaged Ch. Imran Hassan Ali for an Intra-Court Appeal. They had retired in the meanwhile. The appeal was heard by a Division Bench on 30-09-2013, when it was allowed. The Court held that the employees of Constitutional Bodies, inlcuding the appellants, are entitled to allotment of plots in their respective categories.
Ch. Afrasiab Khan, ASC, represented the successful Petitioners and Appellants (all high ranking bureaucrats) in two Constitution Petitions and a Civil Appeal challenging, inter alia, the following pieces of legislation:
The Honourable Supreme Court declared that all these legislations are in violation of the Constitution. The Court also declared illegal all “absorptions” by the Government of Sindh since 1994. The Court futher declared that all out of turn promotions given under section 9-A of the Sindh Civil Servants Act, 1973, by the Government of Sindh to an employee or civil servant with or without antedated seniority since 22-01-2002, when section 9-A was inserted through Ordinance IV of 2002, are ultra vires of the Constitution.
The Honourable Supreme Court then directed: “A copy of this judgment be sent to the Chief Justice, Sindh High Court, through Registrar for circulating it amongst the learned judges. A copy of this judgment be also sent to all the Chief Secretaries of the Provinces as well as Secretary, Establishment Division, Government of Pakistan, with the direction to streamline the service structure of civil servants in line with the principles laid down in this judgment. The Chief Secretary and Secretary, Services, Sindh, are further required to comply with this judgment in letter and spirit and report compliance within three weeks.”
Honourable Mr. Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa added a landmark additional note to the judgment, which reads: “It is true that the judicial precedent available thus far declares that mala fide cannot be attributed to the legislature but if a legislature deliberately and repeatedly embarks upon a venture to nullify considered judicial verdicts in an unlawful manner, trample the constitutional mandate and violate the law in the manner it was done in the presentcase then it is difficult to attribute bona fide to it either.”
The Respondents were represented by senior lawyers Dr. Farough Naseem, Anwar Mansoor Khan, Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, M.M. Aqil Awan and Khalid Javed etc..
The judgment is reported at 2013 SCMR 1752. A copy is also available on the Supreme Court website.
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.