Flouting orders: No allocation for minorities in Lahore High Court’s latest hiring drive

5-per cent allocation for minorities in all govt jobs was made mandatory in 2009.

LAHORE: Lahore High Court has failed to allocate five per cent seats for religious minorities, required under a provincial government notification from 2009, in a recent call for applications for recruitment on 696 posts of civil judges cum judicial magistrates, The Express Tribune has learnt.

A recent advertisement inviting applications for jobs mentions age and residence requirements but says nothing about the quota. The minorities’ quota was made mandatory for recruitnment in all government departments following a notification issued in October 2009.

Meanwhile, several civil petitions seeking implementation of the quota are pending hearing in the court. In a petition submitted in April 2010, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed had observed that he would not dispose of the petition until the quota was implemented in all government departments in its letter and spirit. The petition had been filed by Christian Progressive Movement (CPM) chairman Nail J Diyal.

Advocate Mushtaq Gill, a member of the CPM, lamented that instead of ensuring that other government bodies were implementing the quota, the court was itself flouting the order in its recruitment.

He said this could create an impression in other departments that the requirement was not to be taken seriously. He said Article 260 (3) (b) of the Constitution clearly recognised Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, Ahmadis and Bahais as religious minority communities in the country.

Shahbaz Anwar, an assistant registrar and acting public relations officer at the LHC, told The Tribune that there was a quota for hiring people with disabilities only on judicial positions in the court.  He refused comment when asked about the absence of a similar allocation for religious minorities.

The provincial government had on October 23, 2009, issued a notification requiring all its departments to set aside five per cent of the jobs for religious minorities. A copy of the notification was sent to all government bodies including Lahore High Court.

Earlier, the federal government had issued a similar notification on May 26, 2009. It was stated that the orders would also apply to initial appointments.

The advertisement seeking applications for the 696 civil judge cum judicial magistrate jobs states that the candidates will need to sit for a multiple-choice questions (MCQ) test on March 8. The test will cover civil law (25 marks), criminal law (25 marks), English language (25 marks) and general knowledge (25 marks).

Those scoring at least 50 per cent in the test will be called for an oral exam. The exam schedule and venue will be intimated to eligible candidates through admission letters, text messages, emails and press ads.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2015.