Proforma promotion: ex-bureaucrat’s case remanded back to HPSB

In an interesting development, the apex court has remanded back to the High-Powered Selection Board (HPSB) the case of a retired civil servant for him for proforma promotion “de novo”.

A proforma promotion is a type of promotion given to an employee without a change in the current post, pay, or responsibilities, but with the intent to maintain parity with a junior or peer who may have been promoted due to structural or administrative reasons.

The court has noted that the promotion should be considered in accordance with the exactitudes of Fundamental Rule 17 (FR 17)—with fair, impartial and meaningful consideration and deliberation of all Performance Evaluation Reports (PERs) of the petitioner.

“The entire exercise should be completed within a period of two months from receiving the copy of this judgment,” said an order issued by a three-member bench led by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar.

The petitioner, Ghulam Qadir Thebo, was promoted to BS-21 on April 3, 2013. He was, however, superseded thrice from consideration for promotion to BS-22 without assigning any reason.

In the second meeting of the HPSB convened on October 5, 2017, the petitioner’s name appeared at Sr No 07 in the seniority list of BS-21 officers. However, officers who were junior to the petitioner were promoted.  In the third meeting, his name was at Sr No 04, yet once again, his case was not considered by the HPSB, and two more officers junior to him were promoted.

The petitioner submitted departmental representations to the Prime Minister of Pakistan and Secretary Establishment Division. However, no response was received. According to the petitioner, the denial of promotion by the HPSB was in utter disregard of his fundamental rights enshrined in Articles 4, 9, 10-A, 18 and 25 of the Constitution.  

He later filed a constitutional petition in the Sindh High Court (SHC) in 2018. During the pendency of the petition, the HPSB again considered the petitioner’s case and in the comments submitted by the respondents, certain allegations regarding his performance and integrity were levelled, which were entirely outside the dossier.

The SHC later dismissed his petition on January 27, 2022.  The SC noted that the question of eligibility correlates to the terms and conditions of service, whereas fitness for promotion is a subjective evaluation based on an objective criterion. 

“Though consideration for promotion is a right, the promotion itself cannot be claimed as a right. There is no vested right in promotion or rules determining the eligibility for promotion. However, it cannot be lost sight of that an employee may, under the relevant law/rules, claim to be considered for promotion within the prescribed law, rules, regulations and policies providing criteria for promotion.”

It said the SC has ruled that if a person is not considered due to any administrative slip-up, error, or delay when the right to be considered for promotion has matured, and without such consideration, he reaches the age of superannuation, then obviously the avenue of proforma promotion comes into play for his rescue.

“If he lost his promotion on account of any administrative oversight or delay in the meeting of DPC or Selection Board, despite having fitness, eligibility, and seniority, then in all fairness, he has a legitimate expectation for proforma promotion with consequential benefits. The provision for proforma promotion is not alien or unfamiliar to the civil servant service structure but it is already embedded in the FR 17.”

It said the FR 17 lucidly enumerates that the appointing authority may, if satisfied that a civil servant who was entitled to be promoted from a particular date was, for no fault of his own, wrongfully prevented from rendering service to the federation in the higher post, direct that such civil servant shall be paid the arrears of pay and allowances of such higher post through proforma promotion or upgradation arising from the antedated fixation of his seniority.

"We have often noted that unjustified delay in proforma promotion cases trigger severe hardship and difficulty for the civil servants and also creates multiplicity of litigation."

“It would be in the fitness of things that the competent authority fix a timeline, with strict observance, for the designated committees on proforma promotions in order to ensure rational decisions are made expeditiously and implemented swiftly, rather than dragging all such issues inordinately or without any rhyme or reason,” it added.