KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday stayed the process to recruit over 21,000 persons on BPS-1 to BPS-15 in various departments of the provincial government till the next hearing.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi also suspended two notifications issued by the provincial authorities in January and February 2020 to notify decisions of the provincial cabinet and issuing directives to fill over 21,300 post in over 30 departments.

The bench issued notices to the Sindh chief secretary, secretaries of the services, general administration & coordination, universities and boards, Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) as well as the advocate general for next hearing, to be fixed in the third week after winter vacation.

Senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan leader Kanwar Naveed Jameel along with five others MPAs petitioned the SHC asking it to set aside the two notifications.

The petitioner contended that the respondents had no authority to issue the impugned notifications as they did it in violation of various provisions of the Constitution and applicable laws.

MQM-P challenges move to induct thousands in grades 1 to 15 by ignoring SPSC

The petitioners submitted that recruitment against over 21,300 posts from BPS-1 to BPS-15 was being made without inviting tender, open competitive bidding, procurement plan and also without following relevant laws, mandatory provisions of the Sindh Public Procurement Rules 2010.

The lawyer for the petitioners, Tariq Mansoor, argued that the provincial cabinet in its meeting held on Dec 24, 2019 had not only set out the criteria for selection, but also shortlisted testing services in violation the procurement act and rules and SPSC Act as it was the responsibility of the SPSC to undertake the task.

The counsel stated that in the first impugned notification the decisions of the cabinet were notified and in the second notification the heads of all departments concerned were directed to get the recruitment process gone through Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Sukkur without issuing any tender and fulfilling other procedures.

He further said that both notifications were issued with mala fide intent and in violation of transparency, merit and many provisions of the Constitution as well as relevant laws and rules.

The minutes of the cabinet meeting held on Dec 24, 2019 said that the chief secretary had briefed the cabinet about the progress by cabinet sub-committee on recruitment process that all departments had been ordered to initiate the recruitment process against non-technical posts from BS-1 to BS-5.

The services secretary informed the cabinet that a committee had been constituted to finalise the recruitment process for the post in BS-6 to BS-15 and to coordinate with IBA Karachi & Sukkur for regular testing system.

The lawyer argued that the cabinet approved the proposal of IBA-Sukkur, categorised the tests and set percentage of marks.

He further submitted that both the notifications and arbitrarily award of testing contract by way of signing of a memorandum of understanding were in flagrant and blatant violations of mandatory procurement law and rules.

The counsel said that M/s SIBA Testing Services, tasked to carry out recruitment process, was not eligible or competent to conduct test and collect recruitment fee/charges on behalf of the government as the same was not a body corporate under the Sukkur IBA University Act, 2017.

He submitted that M/s SIBA was neither registered with the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan nor recognised as private limited or public limited entity.

He stated that the SPSC was the competent body of the province to conduct tests, examinations and recruitments.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2022