ISLAMABAD: Jawad Paul, a BS-21 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service has been appointed as registrar Supreme Court for three years.

According to a notification by the Establishment Division, “Jawad Paul, a BS-21 officer of Pakistan Administrative Service, presently posted as Additional Secretary, Prime Minister Office, is transferred and his services are placed at the disposal of Supreme Court of Pakistan, for his appointment as Registrar (BS- 22), initially for the period of three years, under section 10 of the Civil Servants Act, 1973, with effect from August 1, 2021.”

In the past as well the apex court had acquired the services of the civil servant on deputation for the position of registrar.

Dr Faqir Hussain was appointed SC registrar during the tenure of former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Dr Hussain was also given a one-time job extension.

After his retirement, Tahir Shahbaz was made the registrar.

Shahbaz was replaced by Arbab Arif.

The top administrative post in the apex court is now occupied by Khawaja Daud.

Presently, more than two dozen deputationists are working in the SC, including Additional Registrar Judicial Abdul Razzaq, Additional Registrar Administration Amer Saleem Rana, and Deputy Registrar Admin Abdul Shabbir Khan Khattak.

Muhammad Ali, a BS-21 officer, was a permanent employee but was transferred to the Federal Judicial Academy from where he retired in March 2021.

Senior lawyers said that hiring civil servants after every three years would not send a good message to the public, as thousands of employees had been repatriated to their parent departments due to

the apex court’s interference.

They maintained that if permanent employees were not eligible to perform at key posts, specialists should be hired from different sectors for their capacity building.

Superior bars have already disapproved of the trend of hiring civil servants to the apex court on deputation.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021