In K-P, restoration of illegally appointed officers upheld

SC disposes of petition filed by K-P govt challenging PHC’s orders to restore the officers

PESHAWAR/ ISLAMABAD: The apex court on Tuesday disposed of a petition filed by the provincial government, challenging a verdict of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) regarding the restoration of some illegally appointed people in the province.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah heard the case.

During Tuesday’s proceedings, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) additional advocate general argued that guards and gardeners from Peshawar were illegally recruited to serve in the Malakand district.

At this, Chief Justice Ahmed inquired what action is being taken against those who made these illegal appointments.

The additional advocate general (AAG) told the court that an inquiry has been initiated against those responsible. CJP remarked that those involved should be punished.

Justice Ahsan pointed out that in an earlier case, it had emerged that an officer approved the recruitment of some 50 people on his retirement day. He went on to ask why, a person who had been recruited against the law, cannot be removed.

The AAG further said that the PHC had ordered to restore the services of 14 people in 2018.

CJP Ahmed remarked that the high court’s decision does not harm the provincial government and directed the provincial government to restore all such people and start action against them. Justice Ahsan added that the PHC directed the government to restore these people, but it did not stop the government from conducting an inquiry.

After hearing the petitions, the SC disposed of the petition.

Girl seeks sex-change

Meanwhile, a poverty-stricken girl on Tuesday approached the Peshawar High Court, seeking permission to allow her to undergo a procedure to change her sex to support her family and to avert difficulties faced by the women in doing so.

In a petition, filed through Saifullah Kakakhel, the woman has listed the federal government, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) chief secretary, National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) chairperson and the directors of all three tertiary hospitals in the provincial capital as respondents.

The petitioner contended that her father was a peasant and she had spent her entire life as a male. Explaining the reasons for seeking a sex-change operation, she said that she liked to play different sports and clothed like men while she also rode a motorbike.

The applicant stated that she wanted to undergo an operation to become a man as she wanted to support her family by getting a job and that by physiologically becoming a man, she would not have to face the challenges and difficulties which working women face at their workplaces.

Citing the reason for approaching the court, the petitioner said that the doctors she had approached for the surgery had suggested her to move to court before undergoing sex reassignment operation to avoid any legal complication.

She pleaded the court to issue orders for a free sex reassignment operation at a public a hospital and to edit official documents to reflect her changed sex.

Meanwhile, a female doctor has approached a court against an Intelligence Bureau (IB) Inspector for harassing and threatening her.

The applicant, who works as a doctor at the Hayatabad Medical Complex, filed a petition against an inspector of the bureau in a district and sessions court on Tuesday.

The victim claimed that the inspector was her neighbour and claimed that he had been harassing her for over a year. The female doctor accused the suspect of stealing her cheque book and now wanted to use it. She pleaded the court to order her local police station to take legal action against the officer.

Additional sessions Judge Tanvir Iqbal Khan approved the petition for hearing and summoned a response from relevant police officials while the case was adjourned for March 17.

Sentence slashed

The PHC on Tuesday slashed by two years a five-year punishment of a suspect convicted for collecting donations for a banned outfit.

A two-member bench of PHC comprising Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Nasir Mehfooz was hearing the case. The lawyer of the petitioner informed the court that the police arrested his client in July 2019 on charges of collecting donations for a banned outfit and registered a case against him under sections of Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).

A lower court had previously convicted the applicant and sentenced him to serve five years in prison apart from imposing a heavy fine on him. The suspected pleaded that the court to revoke punishment and waive off fine.

Meanwhile, the AAG argued that the suspect was caught red-handed by the police while he had confessed to his crime before the court as well. Justice Rashid remarked that the government wanted to be whitelisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and expressed concerns that the donations could be used in terrorist activities. The court reduced the imprisonment period from five to two years but upheld the amount of imposed fine.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2020.