ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court declared appointments without open advertisement, competition and merit, of the widow/widower, wife/ husband or child of civil servants in different grades, who die during service or become permanently disabled/ invalidated/incapacitated for further service and take retirement from service, discriminatory and ultra vires to the constitution.
The judgment, authored by Justice Naeem Afghan, however, clarified that the instant judgment shall not affect the appointments already made of the widow/ widower, wife/husband or child of deceased or retired civil servants.
It further clarified that this judgment shall not affect the policies, rules or compensation packages of the federal and provincial governments for the benefit of the legal heirs of martyred personnel of the law enforcement agencies and of civil servants who die on account of terrorist activities.
SC directs provincial govts to maintain minorities’ job quota at all levels
A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan, on Friday, announced its reserved judgment, wherein, set aside the Peshawar High Court (PHC)’s judgment dated 13th April 2021 on job quota to the children of civil servants.
The federal and the provincial authorities are directed to withdraw the policies, office memorandums (OM), employment under the Package of the Prime Minister, the Financial Assistance Package, Rule 11-A of the Sindh Civil Servants (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) Rules, 1974, Rule 10 (4) of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Civil servants (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) Rules, 1989, Rule 12 of the Balochistan Civil Servants (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) Rules, 2009 or any other rule, policy, memorandum, etcwhereunder appointments have been made without open advertisement, competition and merit, of the widow/ widower, wife/husband or child of civil servants in different grades, who die during service or become permanently disabled/ invalidated/incapacitated for further service and take retirement from service.
It noted that the rules, policies, OMs, etc which secure or provide appointments in different grades, without open advertisements and competition, to the widow/widower, wife/husband or a child of a civil servant of the federal and provincial governments, who dies during service or becomes permanently disabled/invalidated/incapacitated for further service and takes retirement from service, is ex facie discriminatory against the other or ordinary citizens of Pakistan and the same cannot be termed as a reasonable classification as their object is to give an advantage by excluding others, which is not permissible under Article 25 of the Constitution. Article 27 of the Constitution which specifically attends to the service of Pakistan prohibits discrimination in services.
The government and public sector employment cannot be allowed to be parceled out to the functionaries of the State. These jobs neither are nor can be made hereditary.
The Constitution stipulates that equal employment and economic opportunities must be provided to all citizens. “Economic justice, if we may add, is a component of social justice which focuses on creating equal opportunities for all within a society in all aspects.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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