Sindh govt asked again to explain how it changed the rules of promotions, hiring

The Sindh Services Act of 1973 was amended last week.

KARACHI:

The Sindh government has been asked again to explain in court how it changed the rules of giving jobs, transferring officers, promoting them and taking on others in ad hoc arrangements.

Its decision has been challenged on several fronts and in several courts in the province. A handful of Sindh officers are fed up with how Islamabad’s bureaucrats being imported to Sindh, as this interferes with their promotions. They have gone to court in one petition. In another case, the Sindh government has been ordered to explain the appointment of a senior bureaucrat as the provincial ombudsman. In yet another, the government has been told to send back all officers on deputation to their original departments. Police officers have gone to court over out-of-turn promotions as well.

Amid these legal battles, last week, the Sindh government amended or changed the Sindh Services Act 1973, giving blanket powers to the chief minister to make appointments, including ad hoc ones, promote, transfer and depute officers.

One petition, heard on Monday, argued that the changes were made just days after the Supreme Court asked for a list of officers on deputation. This was done just to protect 54 of them who were given out-of-turn promotions in the police, said the petitioner, an NGO. The Sindh High Court’s Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto were hearing this case.

The petitioner argued that the amendments were brought about through an ordinance that was issued just to vitiate the orders of the Supreme Court, which had asked for a list of officers who were absorbed into the Sindh government, hired on deputation or were given out-of-turn promotions.

The petition names the governor, CM, Speaker, law minister and chief secretary in Sindh. The NGO wants the court to declare the newly inserted rule 9-B as illegal and strike down section 10-A of the Sindh Services Act 1973.

He argued that the ordinance violates the articles on the equality of citizens in the Constitution that say that governor and chief minister cannot make laws that went against basic human rights. The petitioner asked for a restraining order so that the Sindh Assembly speaker does not allow these new rules to be part of a bill to be presented by the Sindh government.

He feared that the ordinance would pave the way for the government to appointment its henchmen who would side with them in the upcoming general elections. The hearing was adjourned but no date was set for the next one as it will be decided later.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th, 2012.