CJP Isa slams job quota for bureaucrats' children

SC reviews government jobs allocated via SRO

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court directed the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government to withdraw all notifications issued in violation of merit, emphasizing that the Constitution of Pakistan prohibits any form of discrimination.

Heading a four-member bench, Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa remarked that the practice of issuing statutory regulatory order (SRO) started during the period of military dictator Ziaul Haq. On that the words 'competent authority' was written but nobody knew who that 'competent authority' was.

The bench heard the case related to the civil service. The court was informed that the employment case was conducted through an SRO. The chief justice asked who issued the SRO? The lawyer replied that a section officer issued the SRO.

On that the chief justice wondered whether section officers were running the country. He emphasised that a paper must have a basis. Neither the Constitution nor a law could be framed by a section officer, he observed.

He then questioned the rationale behind giving job to the son of a deceased bureaucrat. K-P additional advocate general said this authority had been granted under the law. The chief justice stated that the same thing was suggested to the Supreme Court but he opposed it.

He pointed out that government servants got pensions after retirement and a widow also got pension after the pensioner's death. He said that jobs should be given on merit. In a written order later, the court said that the K-P government should withdraw all notifications which were against merit.