AJK Supreme Court Postpones Ruling on PTI Registration Dispute Until After Summer Recess

MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court adjourned proceedings Thursday on the Election Commission’s challenge to a High Court order mandating the provisional registration of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as a political party.

A full bench comprising Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram, Justice Raza Ali Khan, and Justice Khalid Yousaf Chaudhary ruled that the Commission’s application for ex parte ad interim relief would be heard concurrently with its petition for leave to appeal (PLA), once the latter clears administrative scrutiny at the court registry.

The dispute stems from a June 23 High Court directive that suspended the Election Commission’s May 16 rejection of PTI’s registration application, effectively ordering the party’s provisional enrollment. In response, the Commission filed a PLA alongside an application under Rules 1 and 2 of Order VI of the Supreme Court Rules, 1978, seeking immediate interim relief pending the appeal’s outcome.

During the previous session, PTI’s counsel, Yasir Safeer Mughal, requested an adjournment citing insufficient preparation. Consequently, Chief Justice Akram ordered that the High Court’s interim relief remain in abeyance until July 2.

At Thursday’s hearing, the apex court directed that the interim application be consolidated with the main appeal, though no specific hearing date was set. With the Supreme Court commencing its summer recess on Monday—extending through October 7—the matter is unlikely to be adjudicated before the upcoming election cycle, leaving the legal standing of PTI’s provisional registration unresolved during the electoral process.

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