Hiring of top officials: SC seeks list of vacant top posts

Also asks AGP to provide list of organisations whose heads are appointed by a three-member commission


Hasnaat Malik October 29, 2014

ISLAMABAD:


The apex court on Tuesday sought names of the various statutory, autonomous and regulatory bodies, whose heads have not been appointed so far by the federal government.


The Supreme Court’s three-judge bench – headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk – also sought the list of organisations, whose heads were appointed by the commission, established in view of the apex court’s June 12, 2013 ruling in  the Khawaja Asif case.



In its June 12, 2013 verdict, the court had ordered the constitution of a three-member commission comprising competent and independent members with impeccable integrity for the appointment of heads of government offices.

The court had observed that it was the fundamental right of a citizen under Article 9 of the Constitution that the national wealth and resources must remain fully protected – whether under the control of banks or autonomous and semi-autonomous organisations. The commission was mandated to ensure that all public sector appointments were made solely on merit.

During the hearing, Attorney General for Pakistan Salman Aslam Butt told the bench that the government had already formed a commission – headed by Federal Service Tax Ombudsman Abdul Rauf Chaudhry and including Shams Lakha and Ijaz Nabi.

He said he would submit before it the details regarding appointments made by the commission by Wednesday.

However, he said there was a difficulty in implementing the court’s June 12 verdict. “The law is already available regarding appointment of any organisation’s head. Then how could his appointment be made through a commission,” he asked.

The bench also asked senior lawyer Akram Sheikh to assist the court in a federal government’s appeal to revisit judgment in Khawaja Asif case.

Earlier, the CJ had constituted a five-judge bench of the apex court to take up the federal government’s plea to revisit its judgment regarding the formation of commission with regard to the appointment of heads of various statutory, autonomous and regulatory bodies.

The federal government had moved an application with additional grounds for revisiting the paragraphs 26 and 27 of judgment.

In its plea, the government expressed apprehension that any recommendation made by the commission with regard to any appointment was bound to erode the authority of the prime minister and cabinet.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29th, 2014.

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