Appointment on contract basis: Supreme Court rejects prosecutors' plea

The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down plea of a number of prosecutors appointed on contractual basis in Punjab province. A three-Judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez rejected the plea after observation that an order was passed with consent of parties in the identical issue in which the contractual prosecutors in province had agreed to appear before the provincial Service Commission for appointment on permanent basis.
The plea was moved by Chaudhry Amjad Hussain and others against Prosecution Department of Punjab seeking retention of seats till fresh appointments were made on the vacancies. Hafiz S. A. Rehman, counsel for petitioners, apprised the bench that Punjab Public Service Commission had conducted process for appointment of prosecutors in two process on January and March last year.
He said under the process, prosecutors who had been working on these seats were also directed to undergo the appointment process, besides, fresh candidates had also been given a chance. He said fifty percent additional and deputy prosecutors posts had to be filled on the basis of new process while the rest of 50 percent seats were reserved for promotion mechanism.
He said the petitioners sought that they should be retained on the posts unless fresh appointees were made. The Chief Justice observed that the section 8 (iii) of Punjab Criminal Prosecution Service Act to which he was referring was applicable to permanent ones but the petitioners had been working on temporary basis and on stop-gap arrangements.
He told the counsel to advise his clients to appear before the PSC as their contract was for a period of one year. "We have accommodated them through a consent order. If you have the right, then we are the first persons to accommodate you. We cannot stretch our authority to such an extent," he added.