Overlooking merit: PHC reverses 154 appointments made by previous government

Orders chief secretary to re-advertise for the posts in the education department.

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday directed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) chief secretary to re-hire people on 154 posts of the education department as the appointments made earlier were illegal. The recruitment process is to be completed within two months.

A two-member bench comprising PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Nisar Hussain issued the orders after Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Director Syed Fayaz Ali Shah said they had discovered bogus appointments were made on the seats which exceeded the quota of the district.



The director said they checked the record of the department and found out some candidates who were interviewed did not give the test, while those who did were given more marks than they achieved. “A candidate who scored 15 was given 30 marks in the result. Another candidate, Ibrahim Shah solved one question of 10 marks but got 41,” he added.

Shah said less than half of the candidates gave the test and interview from the 3,045 applicants after the government advertised the posts on April 12, 2012.

“Tampering with marks was done in the case of 86 applicants for the position of junior clerks, lab assistants and a few others,” said Shah. He added the district quota was 11 seats, but 20 people were appointed for Peshawar – some of whom were not even from the district.

The court was further informed they did not find any evidence of bribery or undue favours. Transparency, however, was not ensured in appointments either, said Shah. He said criminal charges were registered against some officials, but the process still continued.



After hearing the report presented by the ACE director, the court reversed the notification of appointments made by the previous government and ordered the chief secretary to re-advertise the posts.

The chief secretary was also asked to constitute a high-level committee for the selection of the candidates. The bench then directed those charged with criminal cases be produced in civil courts and the report be submitted in the high court.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2013.