Declaring out-of-turn promotions as illegal, unconstitutional and un-Islamic, the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday directed the Sindh government to immediately withdraw these promotions in all its sections, including the Excise & Taxation (E&T) Department.
The SHC divisional bench comprising Justices Maqbool Baqar and Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui was hearing the petition filed by Jamshoro Assistant E&T Officer Akhlaq Bhugio regarding out-of-turn promotions.
The bench dismissed the petition and ordered the provincial government to immediately withdraw all out-of-turn promotions, including the out-of-turn promotion of the E&T Department’s Kashmir Zardari, a close associate of the ruling party.
In his constitutional petition, Bhugio had submitted that he is working as assistant E&T officer and his performance in the past two years has remained outstanding, but while the department appreciates his role, an officer of a lower grade was promoted and appointed as E&T officer in Jamshoro.
Bhugio prayed to the court to declare Zardari’s notification of promotion as illegal and to direct the provincial government to promote him (the petitioner).
Additional Attorney General Adnan Memon argued before the bench that according to law, only the selection board working under the chief secretary could promote the officials of the provincial government after being satisfied with their performance, and all other promotions without going through the board are illegal and unconstitutional.
After hearing the arguments, the bench dismissed the petition and ordered withdrawing all out-of-turn promotions in every department of the provincial government.
