PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday admitted to full hearing a petition against the recent appointment of 10 revenue inspectors to the irrigation department mostly from the hometowns of the provincial chief minister and assembly speaker.

The petition is filed by a job candidate, Mujahid Feroz of Mardan, who claimed one of the appointees was given six years age relaxation by the government and that too after his appointment in violation of the rules.

While observing that the points raised by the petitioner needs consideration, a bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Mussarat Hilali admitted a petition to full hearing.

It issued notices to the provincial irrigation secretary and the superintendent engineer (SE), Swabi irrigation circle.

In its comments filed by the provincial government it had refuted the allegations leveled by the petitioner and stated that these appointments were made on merit.

In its comments, the government admitted that several MNAs and MPAs had sent recommendation letters for certain of the candidates but those were not considered.

Job candidate claims revenue inspectors appointed on political basis not on merit

Khalid Rehman, lawyer for the petitioner, said last year, the irrigation department had advertised 10 posts of BPS-10 revenue inspectors for the Swabi Circle, which included Hazara division, Buner, Swabi, Mardan and Nowshera districts.

He said his client had done his master’s in Political Science and applied for the said posts but the appointment to those posts were made on the basis of political considerations and not on merit.

The lawyer said all appointees expect for one were from Nowshera and Swabi, the home towns of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and speaker of the provincial Assembly Asad Qaisar, respectively. Khalid Rehman said the petitioner was more qualified than all appointees as most of them were intermediate and only three were graduates.

He pointed out that one of the appointees, Abid Khan, was overage by six years and that he was granted age relaxation by the chief minister after his appointment which was illegal.

The lawyer said another person, Khadim Hussain, was also overage by four years and was also granted age relaxation.

He questioned how in the entire Hazara Division there was a single candidate more qualified then the appointed ones.

Rehman pointed out that after written tests the petitioner was called for interview following which he continued waiting for the results but was not informed about it by the department and he came to know that the recruitment had already been made.

He added that when the department was reluctant to give details to the petitioner about the appointments he filed an application under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Information Act and on the intervention of the chief information commissioner he was provided the relevant record.

However, he said the record also included recommendation letters written by certain MNAs and MPAs but that was not provided to the petitioner.

In a written reply to the petition, the superintendent engineer of Swabi Circle claimed the allegations leveled by the petitioner were baseless and that all appointments in question were strictly on merit.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2015

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