ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday declared the regularisation of contractual staff of the Expanded Programme for Immunisation (EPI) in the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) as illegal.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah allowed a petition filed by PSB employees against the regularisation of the EPI staff in the PSB. The court observed that the appointment of the staff needs to be investigated by the concerned authorities.

A subcommittee of the cabinet, headed by then federal minister Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah in 2012, had regularised the services of 17 EPI employees who were initially in the surplus pool and were later posted to the PSB.

The petitioners adopted before the court that the EPI is a temporary project and its employees had their services regularised through misrepresentation.

Earlier, the court had examined the employees’ appointment letters.

A cabinet subcommittee had regularised the services of 17 EPI employees who were later posted to the PSB

The petitioners argued that these employees were not government servants and had been appointed for a specific programme that was dissolved in pursuance to the 18th Amendment.

The employees were appointed on a contractual basis for a specific period to various projects and programmes controlled by the Ministry of Health. After the passage of 18th Amendment, all pending matters of the devolved health ministry were transferred to the Ministry of Interprovincial Coordination.

The court noted that the cabinet subcommittee was not vested with the jurisdiction to consider, recommend or direct the regularisation of contractual employees who were to become civil servants on a permanent basis.

The committee was also bereft of the jurisdiction to appoint contractual employees on a permanent basis in entities established under a statute.

“The adjustment of these employees of various programmes in the defunct ministry on vacant posts in the PSB was made on the basis of their grades without taking into consideration their suitability according to the job description,” said the court order.

It added that the examples of this included the adjustment of the grade 18 chief statistical officer and grade 17 health officer on the posts of grade 18 director and grade 17 assistant director (women’s cell), respectively.

The new entrants had no background in sports management and hence were not making any contribution towards the performance of the board. Their adjustment resulted in an increase in the PSB’s administrative expenses, adversely affecting sports activities that are the organisation’s main function.

The court observed that such illegal recruitments have weakened organisations and entities established to serve the people and this may only be the tip of the iceberg.

The culture of recruitment other than on merit has encouraged nepotism and corruption and has inevitably led to the violation of fundamental rights of the citizens while jeopardising the interests of future generations, the court said.

It said the board had a pivotal role in enabling the youth to show its talent at international forums, and there could be no compromise on merit. The test for the PSB to perform its statutory obligations is the standard of sports and opportunities offered to the youth, the court order said.

“I am afraid that this is not manifest from the falling standards of sports across the country. The victims are the people of Pakistan, particularly the youth,” Justice Minallah observed.

The court declared: “The legality of the initial appointment of the respondents under the regularisation policy is also a mystery and needs to be probed. Could they have been appointed when the projects in which they had been employed on contractual basis were not transferred nor had posts been created correspondingly; they definitely could not have been adjusted against the vacant posts in the board. The appointment/adjustment of the respondents against the posts of the board was illegal, void and ultra vires.”

The court directed that these officials be “relieved by the board” and their legal status determined by the government.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2020