CM has sweeping new powers to take on adhoc appointments

Sindh government gets a breather as SC adjourns case indefinitely after tailor-made ordinance promulgated.

KARACHI: The Supreme Court has put on the backburner a case against absorbing federal bureaucrats in the Sindh set-up, after the government rushed through an ordinance giving the chief minister sweeping powers to made temporary appointments.

The new ordinance allows the chief minister to make adhoc appointments, absorb officers from Islamabad or on deputation from other departments.

Now that this is in effect, the court decided to adjourn indefinitely a case that questioned the Sindh government's ability to absorb officers from the federal set-up as it interfered with the local bureaucrat's promotions.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court's Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Muhammad Ather Saeed adjourned the hearing of the case that was filed by officers of the Secretariat group. The court was informed by the Advocate General Sindh about the ordinance.

The new law sets in and thus the entire proceedings before this bench stand infuructous, the bench was told.

"The situation has changed altogether after the promulgation of the new ordinance," said the bench, ordering that the matter shall not be treated as "part heard", paving the way for a hearing by any other bench of the apex court.

On Tuesday, the lawyer for the petitioners, Choudhry Afrasiab, concluded his arguments. The Advocate General Sindh was supposed to make his arguments to defend the alleged illegal postings, adhoc appointments, absorption of non-cadre officers among other actions.

But now the government has saved thousands of illegal appointments and postings as any judgment against the government may adversely affect the morale of the bureaucracy, a senior law officer confided.

Naseem Sehto, one of the petitioners, said that they would weigh their options and decide on a course of action including possibly questioning the legality of the new ordinance. "We will go through the ordinance first, consult  each other and then be able to decide what to do to protect our interests," said a dejected but composed Sehto.