LAHORE:
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday issued show cause notice to the Prosecution Department secretary and summoned him on a petition seeking contempt charges against him for not implementing court orders.
Justice Muhammad Khalid Mahmood Khan had ordered the Prosecution Department to send the cases of assistant district public prosecutors (ADPPs) for regularisation to the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC).
He had also ordered the department to pay their stopped salaries.
On Tuesday, the PPSC submitted a report stating that the Prosecution Department had sent incomplete cases, owing to which it was not possible for the PPSC to consider them for regularisation.
During the course of the hearing, the petitioners produced a recently extended contract letter given to law officer Sadia Arif of the Prosecution Department. Their counsel Farooq Amjad Meer submitted that the department was delaying the regularisation of his clients’ services, while regularising a law officer recruited at the same time as the petitioners in 2006. He said this was “clear discrimination” on the part of the department.
Meer said that the Punjab government had in 2010 issued a notification for the regularisation of contract employees of grade 16 and above, and the LHC had ordered the Prosecution Department to implement the notification.
Justice Khan issued show cause notice to Prosecution Secretary Maaroof Afzal for April 10. He also summoned the legal director of the Prosecution Department.
PPSC reply sought on hiring criteria plea
The Lahore High Court on Tuesday sought a reply from the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) on a petition challenging the requirement that applicants for the posts of assistant district attorney and deputy district attorney have at least 50 per cent marks in their LLB exams.
Petitioner Munawar Qadri, a candidate for one of the posts, submitted that in the past, the requirement was for applicants to get 45 per cent marks in the exam. He said the change had been made without explanation.
Chief Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed asked why, if the other posts were being filled under the previous criteria, why the condition of 50 per cent marks was introduced for the posts. The hearing will resume on March 29.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 28th, 2012.
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