MUZAFFARABAD (Kashmir English): The Supreme Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Thursday accepted the AJK government’s urgent hearing request of the case related to the abolition of the quota system in government services.
The apex court ordered to complete the case and present it on April 20, 2026.
It should be noted that 17 appeals are pending against the High Court’s decision of August 16, 2025, while the interim stay order issued by the Supreme Court against the recruitments of grades 1 to 15 is still in force, which has suspended the ongoing recruitment process in government institutions.
Earlier, the next hearing of the quota case was fixed for April 30; however, the court has not fixed an urgent hearing for April 20.
Last week, the Azad Kashmir government filed a petition in the Supreme Court for an urgent hearing of the case related to the abolition of the quota system in government services.
The petition submitted by the Advocate General of AJK has taken the stand that the case is sensitive in nature, while its next hearing has a long date fixed, hence it should be heard urgently.
AJK High Court verdict
The matter came before the Supreme Court when appeals were filed against the August 16, 2025, judgment of the High Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, which ordered the abolition of the quota system for government jobs.
In a landmark verdict, the High Court declared the decades-old quota system for post-1989 refugees unconstitutional and discriminatory.
Justice Sardar Muhammad Ejaz, in a detailed 65-page judgement, declared that all notifications and rules enforcing quotas in government services and professional institutions were “repugnant to the AJK Interim Constitution, 1974, violative of fundamental rights, and against the injunctions of Islam.“
The decision on the petition’s approval or rejection will be made after the Advocate General’s appearance in the Supreme Court.
The appellants argued that the abolition of the quota system could affect the rights of various sections, and further legal clarification was required in this regard.
During the preliminary hearing, the Supreme Court, after hearing the arguments, issued an order to temporarily stop the appointments to all non-journaled posts from Grade 1 to 15 and also issued notices to the parties.
As a result of the court order, the ongoing and proposed recruitment process in various government departments has been stopped.
It may be recalled that since the High Court judgment, there was a debate at the legal and administrative level on the procedure for appointments in government jobs, while the sensitivity of the issue has increased further due to the case pending in the Supreme Court.
