PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has directed the provincial special secretary (health) to constitute a committee for probing illegal appointments of Class-IV employees to the Women and Children Hospital, Charsadda, and identify officers responsible for it.

A bench consisting of Justice Roohul Amin Khan and Justice Ijaz Anwar declared that the committee should give personal hearing to all appointees before deciding their fate in accordance with its inquiry.

While disposing of five identical petitions against several appointments to the hospital, it also directed the panel to hear all officers involved in appointments for fixing responsibility and recommend departmental proceedings against them.

Voices dismay over lack of transparency in process

The court directed the special secretary (health) to complete the exercise in two months and share findings with its registrar for examination by the judges.

The bench issued the directives in light of an inquiry conducted by the secretary that pointed out both illegalities and irregularities in recruitment process.

Expressing dismay over a lack of transparency in appointments to government posts, it observed: “It is very unfortunate state of affairs that we have noted and observed in many cases that the appointments to public posts are not made in a transparent manner. Such practice has eroded the public confidence on the selection process and it has become a general perception that the appointments in the departments are not made on merit but either on the direction of the political figures or some influential in the department.”

The bench observed that there was no law in the country giving authority to the people’s representatives to interfere in the executive and administrative domain even to the extent of recommendation and proposal though appointments made were a classic example of such interference.

“The superior courts of this country has time and again stressed upon the Executives not to accept any kind of pressure in the matter of appointments and postings and to go by the book what come may, however, it seems that either they are adamant enough not to follow the law or they are so insecure that they always succumb to the extraneous interference,” it observed.

Kashif Jan, lawyer for the petitioners, said despite being eligible for those posts and registered with the District Employment Exchange, the petitioners were not considered and instead, other persons were given appointment letters in violation of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Civil Servants (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) Rules, 1989.

He contended that the recruitment process was eyewash and only favourites of the appointing authority or those with strong political connections received appointment letters.

During the pendency of the petitions, the special secretary had conducted an initial inquiry on the direction of the court through the deputy secretary (drugs) of the health department, who scrutinised all documents and submitted his findings, which supported the version of the petitioners.

In his findings, the officer had declared: “The Selection Committee/panel did not fulfill the requisite steps required in the selection process together with a deviation from their administrative and moral responsibility. They could have rendered their responsibility in an efficient way in total adherence to the merit and policy.”

He had concluded that the recruitment was made without inviting applicants for interview, so it caused distrust and a sense of deviation from the standards set for transparency, fairness and merit for appointments.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2022