Petitioners’ counsel says Punjab government is biased against suspended officersThe Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday stayed disciplinary proceedings against PCS Officers Welfare Association President Manzoor Hussain and others and sought comments from the Punjab government, chief secretary and additional chief secretary until May 5 on a petition challenging issuance of show cause notice and disciplinary proceedings against PCS officers for organising strikes and protests at the Punjab Civil Secretariat.
LHC Chief Justice (CJ) Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry was hearing a petition filed by the PCS Welfare Association. The LHC CJ directed counsels for all parties to come prepared for arguments on May 5, observing that the court might give its judgment on next date of hearing. Earlier, petitioners’ counsel Hamid Khan submitted that the Punjab government was biased against the suspended officers and departmental inquiry and proceedings will not do justice to the petitioners and officers. He said that the Supreme Court (SC) had ordered that if the inquiry was partial, the court could intervene in the matter and deliver justice. Hamid said that the petitioners were fighting for their rights and victimised for doing so.
The petitioner’s counsel said that disciplinary proceedings were based on mala fide, therefore, the court should declare them illegal. After hearing arguments, the court barred the Punjab government from finalising the matter. The petition was filed by PCS Officers Welfare Association President Manzoor Hussain and eight other officers, through their counsel, submitting that associations of provincial employees had been collectively striving for their rights in all provinces, which had been usurped by civil servants of the federation belonging to the District Management Group (DMG). They submitted that the DMG had a strong lobby both at the federal and provincial level and the condition of PCS officers was unfavourable particularly in case of promotion and posting.
Referring to various remedial measures suggested by the provincial selection board and the Punjab Assembly (PA) to address the issue in the past, the petitioners pointed out that the measures were never implemented. They said that the Punjab CM had constituted a committee to resolve the issue, which gave various recommendations to address the problem and it was assured that the same would be implemented by July 31, 2011.
The petitioners requested the court to declare the disciplinary proceedings against them as illegal and set aside the show cause notice and suspension orders.
