IHC stays Trade Officer written test

Islamabad High Court (IHC) has granted stay against written test for the Trade Officers scheduled to be held on February 11, 2012 under the supervision of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). Official sources told Business Recorder that Commerce Ministry has to pay Rs 2.69 million to LUMS for this test.
Barrister Shoaib Razzaq, counsel for the petitioners has filed a petition on behalf of Commerce and Trade Group (C&T) Nasir Hameed and others challenging the decision of the Commerce Ministry relating to test for foreign posting and made Federation of Pakistan through Ministry of Commerce, Secretary Ministry of Finance, Secretary Establishment Division and LUMS as respondents.
The C&T Group was formed as a professional group in the service of Pakistan through a memorandum in 1975 and was brought under the control of the Ministry of Commerce, Government of Pakistan. The petitioner contended that upon the selection through CSS competitive examination, and subsequently through their careers, the C&T Officers are given highly technical and specialised training in international trade and related matters.
The C&T Group officers are also regularly and frequently sent abroad for advanced technical training at government expense to equip them with skills necessary for execution of national trade policy and effective participation in global trade matters.
The government annually spends millions of rupees on local and foreign training of C&T officers. These training courses train the C&T officers to effectively represent Pakistan internationally in bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations, and trade dispute settlement forums and at trade fairs. IHC has said in the order that despite service effected upon the respondents, nobody responded today.
According to the order, from the record placed before the court, it transpires that the respondents violated the policy and were going to conduct the examination but had not indicated the quota provided, hence the instant writ petition was preferred.
The order also stated that the perusal of record revealed that despite issuance of notice, respondents were not appearing nor had they any interest to pursue or defend themselves against the allegations levelled in the petition. IHC has ordered to repeat notice to the respondents to file report and para wise comments within the fortnight and issued stay order to further process of conducting test till next date of hearing.