Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) set aside the decision of High Powered Selection Board (HPSB) headed by the prime minister of Pakistan regarding promotion of officers from grade 21 to grade 22.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar took up the case for hearing on Wednesday.
Barrister Syed Ali Zafar had filed the petition on behalf of Raana Ahmed, who is a senior and decorated officer of Grade 21, challenging the decision of the HPSB in which Raana Ahmed had not been promoted.
Barrister Zafar argued before the court that Raana Ahmed, who had an outstanding and unblemished service record of 34 years and in 7 consecutive PERs was rated as “Outstanding”, was at Sr No 6 in the Seniority List and fully entitled to a promotion to Grade 22.
He, however, pointed out that HPSB in its meeting held on August 01, 2016 wanted to promote its favourites and in order to give them an undue favour, it chose to promote persons who were at seniority level 10 and 16 thereby bypassing persons who were on merit.
He argued that the worst injustice was that in order to bypass honest and dedicated civil servants like Raana Ahmed, the HPSB coined a phrase that “the officer does not enjoy good reputation in terms of competence and leadership”.
Zafar submitted that if good civil servants were not promoted and persons junior to them were promoted in this manner, by none other than a committee headed by the prime minister, then this would put an end to meritocracy in the civil service, and such actions have already resulted in dejection and indiscipline in the executive branch of the government.
Barrister Zafar submitted that the political leadership could not be allowed to appoint their cronies like this.
He also pointed out that the arbitrariness and lack of seriousness were so much that FBR chairman was not even present in the meeting of the HPSB, and Ishaq Dar, a stranger, was in the meeting to influence HPSB.
The secretary establishment confirmed that Ishaq Dar was present and the chairman FBR was absent but was consulted on phone only.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan observed that the exercise of powers cannot be arbitrary, capricious and whimsical. In fact, if the persons are not promoted in accordance with the seniority and record, the reasons must be objective and justiceable.
Barrister Zafar relied on “Tariq Aziz-ud-Din case” to argue that the Supreme Court had already determined that the discretion for promotion of civil servants must be structured.
After hearing the arguments of Syed Ali Zafar the Supreme Court directed the HPSB to reconvene its meeting and decide the promotions of all concerned on merits as per seniority and submit a report in this regard to the court within thirty days.
The case will have far reaching effect on the structuring and control of promotions of civil servants across Pakistan.
