The Sindh government seems eager to immediately appoint law officers, despite the Sindh High Court’s stay order on the matter, Pakistan Today has learnt. Different subordinate-grade law officers of the Sindh government’s Criminal Prosecution Service Department (CPSD) had filed a constitutional petition in the high court against the probable appointments of the additional prosecutor general and deputy prosecutor general through the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC).
They argued that these posts are reserved for promoted subordinate law officers according to the rules and act of the department.
Last month, the Sindh government had announced vacant posts for law officers of different grades for upper and district judiciary of Sindh. According to the announcement, five posts of additional and six of deputy prosecutors generals were to be filled through the SPSC. The law officers of the department filed a petition against the proposed appointments and the SHC issued stay order, but despite that, the commission conducted the examination for the posts on the behest of the Sindh government.
Earlier when the applicant law officers had passed their commission examination in 2007, the Sindh government had refused to appoint them and they filed a petition and also staged protests. Their appointment became possible when an apex court bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry passed a judgement in their favour and Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, in the presence of Law Minister Ayaz Soomro, delivered them their appointment orders at a public meeting and announced that the “people’s government has fulfilled its promise to give jobs to unemployed people”.
On of the petitioners, a prosecutor, told Pakistan Today on the condition of anonymity that the Sindh government does not want to appoint them because they had acquired their positions on merit and on the intervention of courts. The provincial government wants to appoint law officers on the basis of favouritism and if this happens, the current working law officers might not be promoted for the next 20 years.
