ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) suspended the Sindh High Court’s orders related to the Combined Competitive Examination (CCE) conducted by the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) in 2024. A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan and comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Rozi Khan Barrech, on Wednesday heard various petitions of the SPSC against the SHC orders dated May 14 & 21, and June 9, 17, 22, and 30, 2026.
At the outset, Hafiz Ehsaan Ahmad Khokhar, representing the Commission, submitted that the impugned orders reflected an unprecedented judicial intrusion into an ongoing constitutional recruitment process based on mere allegations levelled by unsuccessful candidates. He argued that the High Court, in the instant matter, exercised a suo motu jurisdiction which it did not possess under the Constitution and had granted sweeping exparte interim relief against a constitutional institution without issuing mandatory notices to the SPSC and the Sindh government.
Hafiz Ehsaan contended that the writ petitions themselves were not maintainable as an adequate and efficacious alternate statutory remedy was available to the petitioners under Regulation 161 of the Recruitment Management Regulations, 2023. He informed that despite repeated objections regarding maintainability, the High Court proceeded to assume jurisdiction and granted extensive interim relief without first deciding the question of maintainability or determining whether any enforceable fundamental right had been infringed.
The counsel argued that the interim directions virtually amounted to final relief, despite the existence of disputed questions of fact which could not legally be determined in constitutional proceedings at the interlocutory stage. He maintained that the impugned orders travelled beyond the constitutional limits prescribed under Article 199 of the Constitution and were therefore wholly without lawful authority, coram non judice and liable to be suspended by the Federal Constitutional Court in exercise of its constitutional jurisdiction.
He requested the Federal Constitutional Court to suspend the operation and implementation of the impugned interim orders pending final adjudication, restrain any reassessment of answer scripts or disclosure of confidential examination material, set aside the impugned orders as being without lawful authority, dismiss the connected constitutional petitions as not maintainable, expunge all adverse observations made against the Commission and its officers, restore the recruitment process to the stage existing immediately before the exparte order dated 14 May 2026 and permit completion of the CCE-2024 recruitment process strictly in accordance with the Constitution, the Sindh Public Service Commission Act, 2022 and the Recruitment Management Regulations, 2023.
He also requested the Federal Constitutional Court to withdraw all connected proceedings pending before the Sindh High Court under Article 175E (5) of the Constitution so that the common constitutional questions arising out of the recruitment process could be authoritatively and uniformly decided by the Constitutional Court.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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