PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has declared the recent appointment of an acting chief executive officer (CEO) to the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) illegal and directed the federal government to fill the post on a permanent basis within two months in accordance with the relevant law and rules.

A bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Shakeel Ahmad declared that if the government didn’t meet the appointment deadline, acting CEO Engineer Arif Mehmood Sadozai would cease to work in the office.

The court issued the order while disposing of a petition filed by former acting Pesco CEO Gul Nabi Syed against a summary moved for his removal and subsequent replacement with the respondent, Sadozai.

The bench observed that appointment on the “acting charge basis” or under a stopgap arrangement was usually made due to the pending process of a regular appointment, but it was informed that since the appointment of the petitioner in Sept 2022 and even after the appointment of respondent Sadozai in Jan 2023 as CEO, no such process had been initiated.

Asks govt to fill top Pesco post on permanent basis in two months

“Such appointments are violative of the principle of appointment on a stopgap arrangement,” it declared.

The bench ruled that apparently, the appointment of the petitioner as well respondent Sadozai had not been made in accordance with the law nor could it be expected from such short-term appointees that they could focus on goal setting and long-term planning to make the company as a profitable organisation.

“We have seen in numerous cases that such temporary arrangements exploit the situation and such officers are playing in the hands of political figures in order to prolong their such temporary position instead to focus on the long term planning and policy decision,” it observed.

In a detailed judgement on the petition, the bench discussed several superior court judgements and relevant laws and rules, including the Companies Act, 2017, Public Sector Companies (Corporate Governance) Rules, 2013, Public Sector Companies (Appointment of Chief Executive) Guidelines, 2015, and State-Owned Enterprises (Governance and Operations) Act, 2023.

“In the given circumstances, we find that assigning the responsibility of the post of CEO through such temporary arrangements will never be helpful rather would worsen the situation further,” it observed.

Referring to different provisions of the laws and rules, the bench observed “… having specifically provided the procedure and manner in which the post of CEO of a Public Sector Company is to be filled, as such, we deprecate the practice of ad-hocism, appointments on look after or acting charge basis.”

The petitioner had initially challenged a summary for his replacement. The high court had directed the ministry of energy (power division) on Jan 12 to maintain the status quo on the matter.

The same day, the government assigned respondent Sadozai, the chief engineer of the Islamabad Electric Supply Company, to “look after the charge of the Pesco CEO purely on a temporary basis.”

The petitioner later filed an amended petition challenging the appointment of the respondent.

Lawyers Ghulam Mohiuddin Malik and Mohammad Sufyan Malik appeared for the petitioner and contended that the impugned summary was moved for the appointment of Sadozai, a resident of Dera Ismail Khan, as the Pesco chief executive on political grounds.

They contended that appointment of an outsider as CEO of the Pesco would adversely affect the power utility’s performance and reputation of its senior most engineers, including the petitioner.

While the respondents, including the government and CEO, had contended that the petition was not maintainable, the bench rejected the contention.

It observed that despite a proper mechanism, having been provided in the law and rules, the government was making appointments on look after and stopgap arrangements.

The bench added that the petitioner, who had “hardly performed to act” as the CEO, was removed in terms of the decision of the government on Jan 5, 2023, and the direction was issued for the appointment of respondent Sadozai as the CEO on the same terms and conditions until further orders.

“Formal notification was issued on Jan 12 and he was assigned to look after the post of the CEO as a stopgap arrangement purely on a temporary basis. Thus, without adhering to the mandatory provisions of law, again such appointment was made,” it said.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2023