KARACHI, Nov 7: The Sindh High Court directed the central selection board on Wednesday not to finalize the promotion cases being processed by it till Nov 17, when a writ petition moved by Capital City Police Officer Azhar A. Farooqui would come up for hearing again.
The petition was filed earlier on Wednesday and argued upon by the Karachi CCPO in person before a division bench comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Justice Mahmood Alam Rizvi. Mr Farooqui submitted that he was eminently qualified for promotion from Grade 20 to Grade 21. His name was included in the seniority list but was omitted for unspecified reasons. Consequentially, his case for promotion was dropped for consideration from Thursday’s meeting of the CSB.
The board is headed by the establishment secretary and sends its recommendations to the prime minister. The petitioner sought direction for consideration of his case in Thursday’s meeting with those of his Grade 20 colleagues or, in the alternative, an interim order asking the CSB not to proceed with the processing of promotion cases.
Issuing notices to the respondents for Nov 17, the bench asked the selection board not to finalize its recommendations in the meantime.
DAG’s contention
In another petition, meanwhile, Deputy Attorney-General Rizwan Ahmed Siddiqui argued before the bench that service matters could not be agitated in the high court as the Federal Service Tribunal was the only appropriate forum for civil servants to approach in such matters. Besides, he said the writ jurisdiction of high courts had been drastically curtailed by the Provisional Constitution Order of Nov 3. Article 25, in particular, was not available to the petitioners.
The petition was moved by Sajjad Ahmed, Commissioner, Income Tax, Companies Zone II, Karachi, in 2006 through Advocate Mansoorul Haq Solangi.
The petitioner, who is serving in Grade 19, said he was due for promotion to Grade 20 but was discriminated against. The superior courts had been adjudicating service matters where infringement of a right was involved.
The bench asked the petitioner’s counsel to examine the contention raised by the federal attorney and argue on the next date whether a writ petition with regard to terms and conditions of service was maintainable after the promulgation of the PCO.
Police restrained
By another interim order, the bench restrained the Badin police from taking further action on an FIR accusing a man, who contracted a free will marriage, of kidnapping, particularly from arresting him and other accused.
Advocates Chaudhry Mohammad Iqbal and Shiraz Iqbal submitted on behalf of petitioner Sharifa, resident of Tando Jan Mohammad, that she married Asif of her own free will in May 2007 in Karachi. Her brother got a bogus kidnapping case registered against him and his relatives at Badin. The police picked Shamshad Baig, Asif’s cousin and one of the accused, in Tando Jan Mohammad and detained him at Badin. Besides Asif and another cousin, there were two unnamed accused in the FIR. The Badin police were looking for the nominated accused and may also arrest them. Issuing notices to the respondents for Nov 17, the bench stayed further action on the impugned FIR in the meanwhile.
The bench also issued a notice to the provincial police officer in a petition moved by constable Mohammad Aslam through Advocate Chaudhry A. Rasheed.
The petitioner stated that his brother, assistant sub-inspector Ghulam Abbas, was martyred in Quetta in 1999 and he was promoted as ASI the same year against a promotion quota meant for the next of kin of martyrs. No appointment letter has so far been issued nor has he been posted as ASI.
Children’s recovery
Justice Rana M. Shamim, meanwhile, asked the police to locate two children of a petitioner woman, who has been divorced by her husband.
The petitioner alleged that the children were in the custody of her former husband, Rashid, and they might be taken away from the court’s jurisdiction.
The judge asked the police to ascertain the whereabouts of the children and submit a report by Nov 12, the next date of hearing.
