PESHAWAR: As officers of the Provincial Management Services challenge the civil service rules, the Peshawar High Court has ordered the production of a copy of the 1949 agreement between the federation and federating units regarding the Civil Services of Pakistan (CSP) for examination.

A bench consisting of Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Abdul Shakoor gave additional attorney general Amir Javed and counsel for the PMS officers Ali Gohar Durrani 15 days to separately file copies of the CSP agreement, which was also mentioned in the Civil Services of Pakistan (Composition and Cadre) Rules, 1954.

It was hearing a petition jointly filed by deputy secretary (sports) Jibreel Raza and 71 other PMS officers against the 2020 amendments to the civil service rules and a 2021 federal government notification for increasing the share of the Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) officers in scheduled posts in four provinces.

The petitioners requested the court to declare that the impugned SRO issued by the Establishment Division on Oct 14, 2020, and a notification issued on March 12, 2021, is illegal and liable to be struck down.

Court orders production of copy of 1949 CSP accord between federation, its units

They also sought a ruling that no amendments could be made in the Civil Service of Pakistan (Composition and Cadre) Rules, 1954, in relation to the increase of the PAS seats in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa without the consultation of the province, which could only be done through concurrence of the provincial government, assembly and governor.

Additional attorney general Amir Javed contended that the present petition was not maintainable and it may be rejected.

Lawyer Durrani said he would respond to the objections raised by the AAG on next date.

He claimed that in 1949, an agreement was executed between the federation and the federating units (provinces) called as the CSP Agreement and the same was also a basis for the 1954 rules.

The bench observed that it would be appropriate for the government to produce a copy of that agreement before it.

Mr Durrani contended that the federal government had transgressed on the exclusive rights of the provincial civil servants to be appointed to posts in connection with the affairs of the province.

He added that the impugned notification (SRO) gave the Establishment Division and the prime minister or any person authorised by him the power to make appointments purely to the provincial posts from those of provincial chief secretaries down to the BPS-17 officers’.

The counsel argued that the impugned SRO violated Section 25(1) of the Civil Servant Act, 1973, as that law didn’t authorise the federal government to make rules related to provincial posts.

He claimed that the Establishment Division had effectively usurped the right to periodically re-determine and possibly reduce the share of seats available to provincial civil servants in the upper echelons of the provincial bureaucracy.

Mr Durrani said following the issuance of the impugned SRO, the Establishment Division notified on March 12, 2021, a unilateral change in the PAS cadre’s strength at the expense of the seats and strength of PMS Officers of the provinces.

Respondents in the petition are the provincial government through its chief secretary, establishment department through its secretary, KP Public Service Commission through its chairman, Establishment Division through its secretary, secretaries of the law and justice and cabinet divisions, and Federal Public Service Commission through its chairman.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2022