• Sindh govt told to give jobs in accordance with 40:60 urban-rural quota
• MQM-P had challenged then PPP govt’s move to appoint over 54,000 in violation of rules before elections

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Saturday scrapped the entire recruitment process, initiated last year by the then Pakistan Peoples Party government, in over 140 departments, attached organisations and autonomous bodies of the Sindh government and declared it as null and void.

The SHC directed the provincial government to ensure that the jobs were to be filled according to applicable urban and rural quota and as per seats vacant as well as in line with the Sindh Permanent Residence Certificates Rules.

A single-judge bench headed by Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput passed these directives while deciding a lawsuit filed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) in August last year against the then PPP government’s plan to fill thousands of vacancies without observing formalities.

The bench in its order said that the entire recruitment process of the defendants commenced through advertisements attached with this suit and any other jobs acquired in view of such advertisement process or otherwise were to be scrapped and declared as null, void and of no legal effect.

That in future no recruitment is to take place on the basis of any walk-in-interview by the government of Sindh/defendants, it added.

“That the Government of Sindh/defendants shall ensure that jobs are to be filled according to applicable Urban vis-à-vis Rural quota in the ratio of 40:60 as per SOI(S&GAD) 23/1/71/75-77 dated 16.1.1971 in respect of appointments under Rule 14 of the Sindh Civil Servants (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) Rules, 1974 (the Rules-1974), wherever it is applicable,” the court order said.

The posts of BS-5 to 15 and BS-1 to 4 shall be filled by the government of Sindh/defendants under Rules 15 (on regional/district basis) and 16 (on local basis) of the Rules-1974 respectively, it further ruled.

“That all the vacancies shall be filled by the Government of Sindh/defendants as per seats vacant and in accordance with Sindh Permanent Residence Certificates Rules, 1971, wherever it is applicable, and it shall also be ensured that no vacancy above the sanctioned strength was filled,” it added.

The bench said that after hearing arguments of lawyers for the parties and with their consent the lawsuit was decided and directed its office to draw the decree in the above terms.

The court also noted that on June 10, under the instructions of provincial law minister, Advocate General Hassan Akbar had filed a statement to the effect that the posts in question were advertised earlier and thereafter, the earlier cabinet had also passed a resolution imposing a ban on appointments during the caretaker period.

The provincial law officer also submitted that all the departments of the provincial government and thousands of people were suffering because of the instant suit and conceded that the impugned advertisements be considered as withdrawn and the lawsuit may be disposed of so that the government may re-advertise and conduct the appointments again in accordance with law.

The AG was assisted by Hakim Ali Shaikh, Jan Mohammad Khuhro, Sagheer Ahmed Abbasi and other law officers of the provincial government during the arguments while plaintiff was represented by senior counsel Dr Farogh Naseem and assisted by Shahrukh Naseem, Akbar Khan and others.

In response to the statement filed by the AG, Dr Naseem also filed a counter-statement on behalf of the plaintiff, alleging that the statement filed by the AG was not adequate and for future purposes the relevant laws had to be specified and in further response the AG further filed a rejoinder statement.

At a previous hearing, almost all the defendant departments and autonomous bodies had filed statements in the light of a court order and stated that all recruitment processes had been suspended, advertisements withdrawn and no appointment had been made between June and August after the SHC issued a restraining order in August 2023.

The MQM-P, through its convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, had filed a suit in the SHC last year.

The lawyer for the plaintiff had submitted that those jobs were also required to be filled in accordance with Rules 14, 15 and 16 of the Sindh Civil Servant (Appointment, Promotion and Transfer) Rules 1974 and Sindh Public Commission Service Act, 2022.

However, he maintained that various departments, offices and other bodies of Sindh government had issued advertisements in July and August in a great haste with mala fide intention to complete the process of appointments illegally, adding that over 54,000 people were illegally being appointed on posts of from BS-1 to 15.

Citing the chief secretary and around 150 others as respondents, the plaintiff stated that the entire exercise of appointments was nothing but a mere sham, farcical and ‘the act flies in the face of common sense’ as the whole process was non-transparent and illegal since there was no written test and interview at all.

In August last year, the SHC through an interim order had suspended the operation of all the advertisements, issued in July and August, impugned by the plaintiff and restrained the authorities concerned from processing the recruitment in question till further orders.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2024