Right to work: Court reserves verdict on prosecutors’ petition
Justice Muhammad Khalid Mehmood Khan of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday reserved his verdict on a petition by 87 assistant district public prosecutors seeking regularisation of their services.
The petitioners submitted that former chief minister Pervaiz Elahi had appointed 750 assistant district public prosecutors on a one-year contract.
Later, they said these prosecutors had approached the Supreme Court but the Prosecution Department had told the court that it could not regularise them. They said that the SC had constituted a committee to interview the prosecutors and 87 out of 750 were selected for appointment.
They said that the successful prosecutors’ contract was extended by one year. Later, they said, the Punjab government in 2010 approved regularisation of all contract employees but the Prosecution Department did not regularise them.
They said they had filed the petition in the LHC in light of the provincial government’s decision.
The petitioners said that on June 30, the department had terminated their services and restrained them from working. They pointed out that the LHC had on March 30, last restrained the department from taking any adverse action against the petitioners while the case was pending.
The petitioners requested the court to direct the respondent department to allow them to return to the assignments they had before June 30 and to regularise their services.
Counsel for the Prosecution Department said that the petitioners could not be given regular jobs unless they passed the Punjab Public Service Commission examination. He said that 156 posts of prosecutors were vacant in the Department and will be advertised soon. The counsel suggested that the petitioners take the examination.
The petitioners’ counsel asked the court to direct the department to refer the cases of the petitioners to the PPSC. The counsel for the department said it was not allowed to do so.
The petitioners’ counsel also pointed out that the former prosecution secretary Rana Maqbool had referred a lady prosecutor to the PPSC for regularisation of service but the department’s counsel denied that. After hearing both sides, the judge reserved the verdict.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 28th, 2011.
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