ISLAMABAD, May 6: The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the last hurdle in allocation of posts to those who had passed civil service competitive examinations in 2001 and 2002.

The federal government had filed an appeal against a judgment of the Sindh High Court that had struck down an FPSC rule requiring allocation of seats on the basis of place of birth of a successful candidate’s father.

Nine successful candidates for the year 2002 had challenged Rule 6 III (a) of Competitive Examination 2000, calling it discriminatory. It was argued that the children of those who had migrated to Pakistan were getting allocation on the basis of their one-year stay in a province. But children of those Pakistanis, who had been living in Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and the NWFP before Partition in 1947, were allocated seats on the basis of place of birth of their father, no matter how long they had been living in a province.

Attorney-General Makhdoom Ali Khan stated that the federal government’s appeal had, in fact, become infructuous as petitioners had already been allocated seats and trained as civil servants.

The AG said the FPSC had also amended relevant rules in the light of the SHC judgment and those amended rules were applicable to successful candidates for the year 2002. The only issue which remained for adjudication, he said, was how successful candidates for the year 2001 would be treated. The apex court should guide the government, he added.

The court disposed of the appeal with the observation that Rule 6, III (a) had been struck down, and thus it could not be made applicable to successful candidates for jobs in civil service for the year 2001. The court ruled that amended rules, which were applicable to candidates of the year 2002, would also govern the candidates of 2001.

The SC bench consisted of Chief Justice Sheikh Riaz Ahmad, Justice Mian Mohammad Ajmal, and Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi.