Law: Azad Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution Act, 1974

Section: 44

Law: Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898

Section: 249-A

Azad Jammu and Kashmir Interim Constitution, 1974 (VIII of 1974)-- ----Art. 44--Criminal Procedure Code 1898, S. 249-A--Police Constable--Dismissal from service on basis of criminal charge--Challenge to order of dismissal--Appeal before Service Tribunal--Dismissed--Appeal was then filed before Apex Court of AJK, which also maintained the dismissal--Trial Court acquitted petition under Section 249-A Cr.P.C.--Applied to reinstatement in service--Request was rejected--Writ petition--Constitutional jurisdiction of High Court--Petition seeking reinstatement in service after acquittal in criminal case--Although acquittal in a criminal case did not ipso facto entitle reinstatement as criminal proceedings and departmental proceedings operated in distinct fields, however, in instant case dismissal was founded solely on criminal charge which, after exoneration of the accused and attainment of finality of acquittal dated 04.08.2022, no longer survived--Consequently, the very foundation of the dismissal order stood obliterated and the impugned order of dismissal could not be allowed to survive.                                                                                                                                  [P. 81] A Syed Atif Mushtaq Gillani, Advocate for Petitioner. Mr. Rohail Rathore, Legal Advisor for Police Department. Date of hearing: 24.2.2026. Judgment NEMO PRAESUMITUR MALUS: Supra doctrine of law postulates that no one is presumed to be bad. Exoneration from criminal charge and that too, finality attached to it, evaporates…