' SYED MANZOOR HUSSAIN GILANI, J.---This appeal, with leave of the Court, is filed against an order passed by a learned Single Judge of the High Court at Mirpur on 20-2-2005 in Writ Petition No,150 of 2005.
2. The learned Judge of the High Court admitted a writ petition filed by the appellant through which proceedings initiated by Azad Jammu and Kashmir Ehtesab Bureau and reference filed against him in the Ehtesab Court No,2 at Mirpur have been called in question on the ground that he was an employee of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council and has retired, while the law under which he is proceeded against, does not cater the cases of the retired employees of the Council. He also sought interim relief for restraining the Ehtesab Court and authority from proceeding against the appellant but the application was rejected in spite of admission of the writ petition. Appeal in this Court is filed to the extent of rejection of interim relief by the learned Judge.
3. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and gone through the law referred by the learned Advocates for the parties.
4. It is admitted' that the appellant was in the Income Tax Department of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council and has now retired. The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council has through Act No,IV of 2005 adapted the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Ehtesab Bureau Act, 2001 (Act No,1 of 2001).
Subsection (3) of section 1 of the Adaptation Act is as follows:-- "(3). It shall apply to all the persons serving in, or in connection with the affairs of the departments under the administrative control of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council and the departments or functions of the Azad Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir which have been placed or may henceforth be placed under the administrative control of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council under subsection (3) of section 19 of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution Act, 1974 (Act VIII of 1974)."
' Section 2 of the Adaptation Act is as follows:-- "2. Adaptation of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Ehtesab Bureau Act, 2001.--(1) The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Ehtesab Bureau Act, 2001 (Act I of 2001) hereinafter referred to as the said Act, as in force in- Azad State of Jammu and Kashmir immediately before the commencement of this Act and the rules made thereunder are, mutatis mutandis, adapted and shall, as far as practicable, be applicable to the subjects enumerated in the Third Schedule to the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution Act, 1974 (Act VIII of 1974).
(2) The Ehtesab Bureau established under the said Mt shall be competent to exercise and extend its functions to the departments under the administrative control of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council and the departments or functions of the Azad Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, which have been placed or may henceforth be placed under the administrative control of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council under subsection (3) of section 19 of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution Act, 1974 (VIII of 1974)."
5. A perusal of the above sections reveals that the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Ehtesab Bureau Act, 2001 is adapted to apply to "all the persons who are serving in, or in connection with the affairs of the departments under the administrative control of the Council". The Adaptation Act, prima facie, does not extend the operation of the adapted Act against the retired employees of the Council.
6. We understand that this could not have been the intention of the legislature as the accountability law could not be meant for in service employees of the Council only, but for all persons who are or had been in the service of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and persons connected therewith. This matter is under consideration of the High Court. Hence we cannot go beyond it.
7. The Ehtesab Bureau Act, 2001 is adapted through the Adaptation Act No,IV of 2005, as far as practicable, it is the adaptation Act which give (sic) and lease to the adapted Act and later shall be read in the light of the Adaptation Act. Although the adapted Act is enforced as a whole through the Adaptation Act, but it is made applicable to the extent of the person serving in or in connection with the affairs of the Council. However, it requires an authoritative pronouncement whether the adapted Act applies as it is or subject to the Adaptation Act.
8. When the learned Judge admitted the writ petition on the ground that the Act prima facie applies to the serving officers of the Council only, there was no reason not to allow interim relief.
The interim relief does not debar the competent legislature to amend the law so as to bring its ambit the ex. Or retired persons employed in or in connection with the affairs of the Council. But as long as the law stands in field, it has to be applied as it is.
' In view of above accepting this appeal, it is directed that appellant shall not be proceeded against under the Adaptation Act referred above till the disposal of petition before the High Court.