Bureaucrats’ promotions case: Govt willing to do away with discretionary marks

A three-judge bench hears appeals of over 100 officers against IHC’s verdict

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has offered the Supreme Court that it is willing to do away with the overriding effect of five marks for the promotion of senior high-ranking civil servants (grade 17 and above).

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali heard the appeals of over 100 officers out of 497 of the federation and four provinces against the Islamabad High Court (IHC) verdict.

Advocate Hafiz SA Rehman, who represented 18 officers, said: “In view of the apex court judgment on Orya Maqbool Jan, his clients were promoted along with others in 2013. But after the issuance of a memo, which introduced the five marks, the officers were reverted back to their old positions.”



He said they had challenged the Central Selection Board’s new policy in the IHC. A single judge of the high court had dismissed ‘five overriding discretionary marks’. However, an intra-court appeal of the IHC overruled the verdict of the single judge.

Earlier, Additional Attorney General Afnan Kundi submitted a statement on behalf of the Establishment Division secretary.

The statement read: “The federal government issued the Office Memorandum and Objective Assessment Form on 10-02-14, allocating 15 marks to the Central Selection Board (CSB) – including the five overriding discretionary marks – under the head of ‘integrity/general reputation perception’.

“The said five marks were given overriding effect in that if an officer under consideration for promotion could not secure at least three out of five marks, then he or she could be superseded or deferred but for reasons to be recorded in writing.

“Two CSB meetings have since been held – one in 2014 and the second in 2015 –under the new policy with specific direction issued to the federal government in Aftab Maneka’s case to hold the CSB of 2015 within a short period of 30 days in accordance with the ‘criteria already set for determining the fitness or otherwise of civil servants’ which included the overriding effect of five marks for integrity.

“It was in strict good faith compliance with the said direction of this august court that the federal government held the CSB meeting in May 2015 under the same criteria, which now forms the subject matter of the present litigation.

“The federal government further acted with complete bona fides while disposing of the recommendations of promotion, supersession and deferment made by the CSB held in May 2015.

“In particular, a beneficial order was passed by converting the supersessions and longer deferments recommended by the CSB into a simple short deferment till September 2015, entitling them to regaining their seniority if promoted in the next CSB.”

The statement informed the apex court that the petitioners before the high court, eligible for consideration for promotion, shall be considered afresh in the next CSB in light of the amended memo after doing away with the overriding effect of five marks.

The statement said these officers if promoted shall regain their seniority with their batch considered in the CSB held in May 2015.

It also said: “The bona fide decision of the competent authority in accepting and notifying the promotions recommended by the CSB held in May 2015 may kindly not be disturbed since the promotes were scrutinised against and passed the stricter criteria of overriding effect of five marks for integrity, besides having been condemned unheard by the high court.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2016.