The Supreme Court (SC) has declared the promotions of 80 grade 21 and 22 bureaucrats, made during former Prime Minister (PM) Pervez Ashraf’s tenure, as void.
The SC while canceling the notification regarding the promotion of these bureaucrats has ordered that a fresh board meeting be held to decide who to promote on merit basis.
A 3-member bench of the SC presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry pronounced the judgment on Wednesday. The other members of bench were Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ejaz Chaudhry.
The verdict was reserved on July 12 on the petition filed by Oria Maqbool Jan whereby the petitioner had challenged these promotions.
It has been said that the erstwhile government had promoted these bureaucrats on political consideration rather than principle of merit. These illegal promotions have encroached upon the rights of the officers. The incumbent government should make a decision about the promotion of these officers in keeping with new promotion policy-2013. New promotions can be made in consonance with norms of merit, the Civil Servant Act and promotion policy. Honest and dutiful officers can be promoted on the senior posts.
It was further said that promotions should be granted on the basis of political affiliations otherwise such promotions would also be declared null and void. The previous government had already admitted that the promotions of 23 officers were illegal.
The court has maintained that the decisions taken by the Central Selection Board (CSB) in connection with the promotion of 80 bureaucrats were not transparent. Therefore, these promotions are declared null and void.
It may be recalled these promotions were made during former PM Raja Pervez Ashraf tenure and were approved by secretary establishment Azmat Usman.
