ISLAMABAD: After finding anomalies in the promotion of senior Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) officials – including incumbent chairman Dr Mohammad Irshad – the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the federal government to reconsider their promotions, along with the case of an official denied a promotion to grade 22.

On Monday the court dismissed appeals in the promotions of grade 20 and grade 21 officials, and upheld an Islamabad High Court (IHC) order that asked the federal government to reconsider the promotions of over 300 officials, including secretary to the prime minister Fawad Hassan Fawad.

An SC bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar set aside the decision of the High Powered Selection Board (HPSB) headed by the prime minister regarding the promotion of officials from the FBR’s Inland Revenue Service (IRS) from grades 21 and 22.

Barrister Syed Ali Zafar had filed the petition on behalf of the petitioner, grade 21 officer Raana Ahmed.

Apex court had dismissed grade 20, 21 officials’ appeals, ruling also jeopardises FBR chief’s appointment

Although the counsel for the petitioner claimed the SC set aside the grade 22 promotions of officials working in various cadres, but the establishment secretary Syed Tahir Shahbaz said that because the petitioner challenged the promotion of three IRS officials – Dr Irshad, Chaudhry Safdar and Tasnim Rehman – only their cases would be sent to the HPSB for reconsideration, and that too after a written court order.

Chaudhry Safdar has retired after attaining the age of superannuation.

Mr Zafar argued before the court that the petitioner had an outstanding and unblemished 34-year service record, was at number six in the Seniority List and entitled to a promotion to grade 22.

However, he said the HPSB, in a meeting held on Aug 1, 2016, wanted to promote its favourites and in order to give them undue favours, chose to promote individuals at seniority levels 10 and 16 – bypassing individuals who were ahead of them in terms of merit.

The petitioner’s counsel said that if good civil servants are not promoted while officials junior to them are, by none other than a committee headed by the prime minister, this would bring an end to the meritocracy in the civil service and such actions have already resulted in dejection and indiscipline in the government’s executive branch.

He argued that the political leadership could not be allowed to appoint favoured individuals, and pointed out that the arbitrariness and lack of seriousness was such that the FBR chairman did not attend the HPSB meeting while Ishaq Dar, a stranger, did so in order to influence the HPSB.

When asked by the court, the establishment secretary – who was in the courtroom – confirmed that Mr Dar had attended the meeting while the FBR chairman had been absent and had been consulted over the phone.

Justice Nisar observed that the exercise of power cannot be arbitrary, capricious and whimsical. In fact, if the individuals were not promoted in accordance with seniority and record, the reasons must be objective and justifiable.

Mr Zafar relied on the Tariq Azizuddin case to argue that the SC had already determined that discretion for the promotion of civil servants must be structured.

After hearing the arguments, the SC directed the HPSB to reconvene its meeting and decide on the promotions of the concerned officials on merit – according to the seniority and record – and submit a report in this regard to the court within four weeks.

Additional Attorney General Rana Waqar, representing the federal government, said the petition was not maintainable because the petitioner had previously filed and then withdrawn the petition from the IHC to file it before the SC.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2017