27 October 2004	Wednesday	12 Ramazan 1425

KARACHI, Oct 26: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan on Tuesday promulgated the Removal from Service (Special Powers) Sindh Ordinance- 2004, empowering the chief minister to remove public servants from service.

The ordinance, that comes into force at once, amends the Removal from Service (Special Powers) Sindh Ordinance-2000, substituting the word 'Governor' with 'Chief Minister' in Section 2 of the previous ordinance.

It further states that in sub-section (I) for clause (e) following shall be substituted:

"(e) Found to have been appointed on extraneous grounds in violation of law and relevant rules, the competent authority after inquiry by an Inquiry Officer or the Inquiry Committee appointed under Section 5, may notwithstanding any thing contained in any law or the0 terms and conditions of such person, by order in writing dismiss or remove such person from service, compulsorily retire from service, or reduce him to lower post or pay scale, or recover from pay, pension or any other amount payable to him, the whole or part of any pecuniary loss caused to the organization in which he was employed or impose one or more minor penalties as prescribed in the Sindh Civil Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules 1973."

The ordinance also inserts a new section, which is as follows:

"3-A (I) Where a person in government service or in corporation service, on conviction by a court of law, is sentenced to imprisonment or fine, the competent authority shall examine the facts and grounds on which the order convicting such person was passed by a court of law.

(2) Where on examination, the competent authority finds that order of imprisonment or fine is based on:

(a) The established charges of corruption or moral turpitude it shall pass order of dismissal from service of the delinquent person in government service or in corporation to be effective from the date of his conviction by a court of law; and

(b) The charges other than corruption or moral turpitude, it may in the light of the facts and circumstances of the case, decide as to whether it is a fit case for taking departmental action under this ordinance, and if it so decides, it may, subject to the provisions of sub-section (2) of Section 3, impose any penalty authorized by this ordinance as it may deem fit in the circumstances of the case."

The ordinance also substitutes Section 9 with following:

"9 (I) A person on whom a penalty is imposed under Section 3, may within fifteen days from the date of communication of the order prefer a representation to the chief minister or such officer or authority as the chief minister may designate:

Provided that where the order has been made by the chief minister such person may within the aforesaid period, submit a review petition to the chief minister.

(2) The chief minister or an officer or authority as may be designated for the purpose by the chief minister may, on receipt of the representation or as the case may be, review petition, call for the record and after perusal of such record and if considered necessary hearing the person concerned and the representative of competent authority make such order.

The new ordinance makes an addition to Section 10, which reads as under:

"Provided that where a representation has been preferred under Section 9 but no decision has been received by, or communicated to, the applicant or as the case may be, petitioner, within a period of sixty (60) days of its submission to the prescribed authority, he may prefer appeal to the Sindh Services Tribunal within 30 days of expiry of the aforesaid period.

In Section 14, following new sections have been added:

"14-A. No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against the competent authority or an officer or authority authorized by it for any thing which is in good faith done or intended to be done under this ordinance or the rules, instructions or directions made or issued thereunder.

"14-B. Save as provided under this ordinance, no order made or jurisdiction proceedings taken under this ordinance, or rules made thereunder by the competent authority or any officer or authority authorized by it shall be called in question in any court and no injunction shall be granted by any court in respect of any decision made or proceedings taken in pursuance of any power conferred by or under this ordinance or the rules thereunder."-PPI