The Sindh High Court (SHC) issued notices to Sindh chief secretary, Services and General Administration Department secretary and Board of Revenue (BoR) senior member among other provincial government officials on Wednesday on a constitutional petition challenging ‘illegal’ appointments, promotions and postings of 53 officers in the Revenue Department. The SHC division bench headed by Justice Maqbool Baqar had heard the constitutional petition filed by Niaz Hussain Abro through his counsels Ali Asad Bullo and Mansoorul Haq Solangi, challenging the posting of 53 assistant commissioners and deputy district officers (revenue), who were handpicked by then chief ministers bypassing the laws. Citing the Sindh government high-ups and the appointed officers, including Agha Pervez, Aijaz Baloch, Nasir Soomro, Mustafa Jamal Qazi, Amjad Laghari, Arshad Waris and Muhammad Aslam Lund among others, the petitioner prayed the court to declare their appointments, promotions and postings as illegal. The plaintiff alleged that all the said officers were sons, nephews or other relatives of political leaders and were appointed directly without appearing for the required examination and later promoted because of their political contacts. In his petition, Abro stated, “The chief minister can only appoint a candidate as assistant commissioner for a period of six months and within six months he has to pass the Public Service Commission examination. The chief minister cannot exempt the candidates from examination, but the 53 officers were not only appointed but also exempted from the prerequisite examination, which is a clear violation of the constitution and Pakistan Services Rule 8 and Executive Branch Rule 94. These officers were then promoted without merit to 19 and 20 grades. The court may declare their appointments, promotions and postings against the constitution and service rules.”
