Court action: Promotions of 49 officers annulled

The promotions were made by former PM Ashraf in the last days of PPP govt.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court on Thursday declared the promotions of as many as 49 officers from BS-20 to BS-21 null and void. These promotions were approved by former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf towards the fag end of PPP government.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry announced this in a 40-page judgment over the petition filed by Punjab Archives Secretary Orya Maqbool Jan. The judgment declared that “the notification of the promotion of all the officers issued in pursuance of the recommendations of Central Selection Board (CSB) held on February 11 to 14 and February 27, 2013 are hereby set aside with direction to the competent authority to undertake the process of the promotion to all of them strictly in accordance with law on merits under Section 9 of the Civil Servants Act, 1973.”

The court also directed the government to undertake an exercise for outlining the criteria to make the civil servant an honest officer who is free from political pressure.

The bench agreed with the petitioner’s plea and observed that it would be a great achievement if holding an inquiry of the civil servant while sending his case for promotion and examining his family assets at the time he joined the service, was part of the policy.

Authoring the judgment, the CJ noted that unlike the provisions of the 1956 and 1962 Constitutions, no protection is provided to the civil servants in the Constitution of 1973, because of which those involved in the country’s policy-making were not feeling strong as it should have been with the constitutional protection to their services.

Referring to earlier judgments in the cases, the bench further noted that the government as well as CSB had to adhere strictly to the law.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2013.