PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Friday issued a notice to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government seeking its response to a petition against a recent law, meant to terminate services of thousands of employees recruited during the last caretaker government in the province.

A bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Dr Khursheed Iqbal issued the order after holding a preliminary hearing into a petition filed by Pakistan Peoples Party provincial president Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha with a request to declare illegal and unconstitutional the KP Employees (Removal from Service) Act, 2025.

It also issued notice to the government over the plea of the petitioner seeking interim relief, requesting the court to restrain respondents including provincial government from initiating proceedings under the impugned law.

The petitioner argued that the impugned law was against the principle of natural justice and fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution.

AAG claims law to deal with illegal appointments only

The respondents in the petition are the KP government through its chief secretary, secretaries of law and establishment departments, secretary of KP Assembly and KP advocate general.

Assistant advocate general Farhan Qadeer contended that under the said law, an action would be taken against those who were recruited in an illegal manner by the caretaker government and not against those appointed through a proper channel.

He added that the law had made distinction between legal and illegal appointments.

“Under the said law, action won’t be taken against those employees who were recruited in pursuance of order or judgement of a court, on the recommendations of the KP Public Service Commission, against the deceased son quota in case of death, against the minorities quota, or in cases where tests and interviews were conducted before the issuance of notification by the Election Commission of Pakistan of Jan 22, 2023, placing ban on recruitments,” he said.

Lawyers Gohar Rehman Khattak and Bilal Durrani represented the petitioner andarguedthat the provincial caretaker government was appointed by the KP governor on Feb 1, 2023, under Article 105 of the Constitution.

They said that the caretaker government made recruitments in various departments and government owned companies against regular posts through a proper channel under relevant rules and regulations.

The counsel argued that after appointment, those employees attained the status of public civil servants.

They added that the provincial assembly passed the impugned Act on Jan 27, 2025, providing for the termination of the services of those employees appointed by the caretaker government.

The lawyers contended that the law provided that employees would mean those appointed through initial recruitment, by various departments, against regular posts, during the tenure of caretaker government in the province with effect from Jan 22, 2023, to Feb 29, 2024.

They said that the law provided that the recruited employees would be deemed to have never been appointed and their appointment were declared to be void.

The counsel insisted that under the Constitution, it was incumbent on the state not to make any law, which took away any right conferred upon the citizens under it and therefore, any law contravening provisions of the Constitution was void.

They addedthat the impugned law was an arbitrary piece of legislation and its enactment was based on mala fide and political considerations.

The lawyers said that the recruited persons were qualified for those posts and it was against their fundamental rights to be removed from service through the impugned law.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2025